Valve and Arkane's The Crossing 'on hold'
by Christopher Grant 
{ May 15th 2009 at 9:45AM } 
click for gallery of The Crossing
Bad news for those of you anticipating Arkane Studios' and Valve's "crossplay" FPS The Crossing (and for those of you with good memories). After the two-year anniversary of the game's debut passed earlier this year, we renewed our attempts to get some information on the innovative shooter. In case you don't remember, The Crossing promised to merge single-player and multiplayer gaming (hence the "crossplay" moniker). Two years ago, the premise seemed impossibly ambitious; now, after the success of Valve's Left 4 Dead (and, specifically, its Versus mode) we're a lot more confident the approach could work.
So, what happened to the project? "We ran into an unexpected financial challenge some months ago and we had to put The Crossing on hold," Raphael Colantonio, CEO and creative director of Arkane Studios, told us. "Since then, we shifted our efforts to other very good projects." Two of those projects are reportedly underway at Arkane's Austin studio, an FPS RPG and a "casual strategy game" for the iPhone, under the direction of Deus Ex-alum Harvey Smith.
So, what financial challenge is Colantonio referring to? If you'll recall, in November of last year Colantonio said the ongoing EA job cuts had an "unfortunate consequence" for Arkane. "The next morning the team on EA's side was greatly downsized and we were told about the strategic decision and its unfortunate consequence on our collaboration," Colantonio told GameDaily at the time. That EA would be involved in the publishing of The Crossing makes sense, since the game's already-announced publishing partner, Valve, has buddied up with EA Partners for its last several releases. Another possibility: the economic hit of losing the EA partnership resulted in halting active development on The Crossing.
Our repeated requests for comment from both Valve and EA have gone unanswered; however, if you have any relevant information regarding The Crossing, you can always share it with us (anonymity assured!).
One last note: Colantonio told us, "I can't comment too much about The Crossing other than saying that we have a really fun demo (really, really fun)." While you won't be playing that demo anytime soon, you can experience a little more of how The Crossing was shaping up (two years ago!) by checking out 1UP's preview (tied into the game's Games for Windows cover story debut) and the "Crossplayer" trailer below. Or hop straight into the gallery for the last round of pics seen of the game.
Gallery: The Crossing
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Obie @ May 15th 2009 10:05AM
I really like the idea of Crossing. Instead of keeping single and multiplayer as separate modes, integrating multiple players in story mode seems like a blast.
Prodigy @ May 15th 2009 10:11AM
It's a good concept that may work. I didn't like Left 4 Dead very much, but I'll give this one a try when it does indeed come out. Maybe this will be the first Valve game I'll enjoy.
dark_inchworm (on Steam!) dark inchworm (on XBL!) @ May 15th 2009 10:23AM
I completely forgot about this. Could be interesting when (if?) it comes out.
J @ May 15th 2009 10:53AM
Chris Grant sighting!
Christopher Grant @ May 15th 2009 1:29PM
*waves*
EvinTheSwift @ May 15th 2009 11:09AM
Fantastic idea, but I'm still a little iffy on it as mentioned in the first video.
How will they create that multiplayer balance for both sides?
Sidebuster @ May 15th 2009 11:23AM
I wish Joystiq didn't post this... I was really looking forward to this game when I saw it in the GFW mag. Now I have to do all that hoping again. damn it.
rohan @ May 15th 2009 12:36PM
So in a sense this a MMO, first time i am hearing about this game or idea for the first time and must say it interest me.
MagnusMastah @ May 15th 2009 12:53PM
Aww man, I was just trying to look up new info about this a month ago. It's a real shame.
peepoop @ May 15th 2009 3:11PM
I know two years ago might have been the "official" debut, but I remember seeing a video about it well before then. This thing's been around much longer than you think, and it's a shame it's stuck like this. I think there's more than just financial issues holding it up.
Discotheque @ May 15th 2009 3:52PM
This game sounded so awesome. I was hoping more news of this game came soon.
It reminded me of Assassin's Creed, but with the potential to be sooo much better.
CH3BURASHKA @ May 15th 2009 5:42PM
When did they announce this? I love Valve and everything they do, but I found out about The Crossing accidentally, from some Joystiq pictures.
Timerider @ May 16th 2009 2:03PM
The only thing Valve should be working on now is the TF2 360 update.
John @ May 18th 2009 12:56PM
I don't care about Arkane Studio's any more. Ever since they did a deal with GOG.com to supply it with the 1.19 patch of their game Arx Fatalis,and then not release it to the public. As an original owner of Arx Fatalis, I fume at the thought of being forced to spend another $10 at GOG to get a working copy!
I am not too happy with GOG.com either, as they should not have been able to say the fix was the 'official 1.19 patch' following on from the last 1.18 patch. If the only way to get this updated game is from GOG, I don't see how it's an official patch at all. Surely what makes a patch 'official' is it is made available to the public from the original developer?
I despair of the morals in video gaming, and PC gaming in particular. I will certainly not be buying another game from Arkane Studio's OR GOG.com! So whether 'The Crossing' comes out or not doesn't bother me any more.