A Revenge of the Savage Planet advert noticed on the Recreation Builders Convention this yr seems to taunt former Stadia boss Phil Harrison.
The advert, which was noticed by VGC and is at present on show in San Francisco’s Union Sq., exhibits a personality with an outsized bald head.
“Has a Harrison fired you latterly?” The advert reads. “You may be eligible for emotional assist”. It additionally has a hyperlink to the Revenge of the Savage Planet web site.
The character proven within the advert is recognized as “Gunther Harrison, CEO of Alta Interglobal”, however these with information of the Savage Planet collection’ historical past will recognise it as a dig at Phil Harrison.
Harrison joined Google in 2018 as vp and common supervisor of the division that may finally develop and launch its Stadia streaming platform.
In December 2019, Google acquired Storm Studios, the crew behind Journey to the Savage Planet. The Montreal-based studio grew to become a part of the Stadia Video games and Leisure studio, becoming a member of a month earlier than Journey to the Savage Planet was launched.
Storm then began work on a sequel to Journey to the Savage Planet, however the disastrous launch of Stadia noticed Google finally closing all its inside Stadia recreation improvement groups in 2021, with Harrison saying he believed the transfer was “the perfect path to constructing Stadia right into a long-term, sustainable enterprise that helps develop the trade”.
The core expertise from Storm then arrange a brand new studio in Montreal, reforming as Raccoon Logic and securing “a big preliminary funding” from Tencent.
Raccoon Logic was additionally capable of retain the Journey to the Savage Planet IP, and formally introduced the sport’s sequel, Revenge of the Savage Planet, final August at Gamescom.
“In a future knocked off its axis by company greed and stupidity, you’ve been made redundant and deserted on the far fringe of house with little gear and no security internet,” the sport’s synopsis reads. With its newest advert on show at GDC, it appears simple to guess the place Raccoon Logic is taking its inspiration from.
The billboard additionally includes a QR code, which, when scanned, results in an internet site monitoring how many individuals have scanned it. For each person who scans the code, Racoon Logic will donate cash to the Canadian Psychological Well being Affiliation.
In an interview with VGC final yr, Raccoon Logic co-founder and inventive director Alex Hutchinson defined the frustration he had working for Google, saying the studio ” wished video games that solely labored within the cloud – which don’t exist”.
“They have been asking us to ship the type of video games constructed by 400 to 600 individuals, enormous Marvel license video games and Star Wars tie-ins. They stated for those who make the sport and it’s nice with 25 individuals, then we’ll allow you to rent 500 artists, which isn’t the way it works. Nobody was speaking the identical language.”
Revenge of the Savage Planet is ready to launch on Might 8, on PS5, Xbox Sequence X/S, PS4 and PC. It should even be out there on Xbox Recreation Go on day one.
