When developer Grin went belly-up back in 2009, it surprised a lot of people. The closure was so sudden that it raised a lot of eyebrows, even though the studios’ past few games hadn’t exactly been hits:Bionic Commando wasn’t nearly as good as so many people had hoped it would be (especially after the excellent Bionic Commando Rearmed), Wanted: Weapons of Fate was considered mediocre by most, and Terminator Salvation was widely-panned by just about everyone for its weak gameplay and nonexistent length. Later on, word got out that the company had been working on Fortress for Square Enix, but the publisher yanked the project because of quality concerns (and reportedly didn’t pay Grin for its work), but now it’s come to light that the company was also developing new versions of Capcom’s Strider and Streets of Rage games.
According to Anait Games, Grin Barcelona’s Strider update had 3D models and concept artwork completed, as well as a teaser video (which you can watch here). Capcom wound up killing the project (though it’s not revealed why), but the developer decided to keep on working on it in the hopes that the IP could be swapped out for … something else, though who knows what, exactly. When talks with Ubisoft to pick up the game fell through, Grin Barcelona apparently moved on to working on a new Streets of Rage, but there’s no artwork or assets to be seen.
OK, confession time: I played the Hell out of Strider and Streets of Rage and would’ve loved to see updates to both series. That said, it’s probably for the best that Grin never put out these titles. The company’s track record seemed to be on an increasing downslide when it came to quality, and there would have been a lot of very angry gamers out there if either of those franchises had been squandered.
Source: Anait Games (translated) via Joystiq
