Obsidian Entertainment's Josh Sawyer has gone into some detail on what, exactly, happened with Aliens: Crucible, the Xenomorph-themed action RPG that was canceled back in 2009. Sawyer was functionally a director of the project and would eventually go on to work on Alpha Protocol, Fallout: New Vegas, and The Outer Worlds, with the Aliens RPG ending up all but forgotten.While it's true that Obsidian Entertainment has become quite the powerhouse in the time since, the studio enjoyed way less renown back in 2006, when the production of Aliens: Crucible started in earnest. The game was, much like Alpha Protocol, to be published by Sega, but things simply didn't pan out, with Obsidian being forced to move in a different direction.According to Chris Avellone, who worked on the aforementioned title alongside Josh Sawyer, Aliens: Crucible was a horror Mass Effect game in more ways than one. Though many details have been revealed about the production since its cancelation, the project is still shrouded in a fair bit of mystery. Now, Sawyer has gone into a bit more detail on what, exactly, had been going on behind the scenes. For example, Sawyer has explained that Obsidian didn't really have an official Game Director role at the time, but a number of leads who didn't necessarily agree on how to move forward with Crucible's development.
This dysfunction led to a situation where Sega deemed it necessary to shelve Aliens: Crucible, and for Obsidian to focus on the production of Alpha Protocol instead. Since Alpha Protocol became a cult classic in the intervening years, this was likely a good decision. In fact, Sawyer said as much himself, saying that the cancelation of Crucible was "understandable," considering its problematic status at the time.
It's worth highlighting the fact that Sawyer appears to have enjoyed the recent co-op shooter Aliens: Fireteam Elite. Though it's a far cry from what Crucible was supposed to be, being a cooperative multiplayer game with live-service elements, Sawyer said that he was happy to play it because the "overall setup" was reasonably similar.
As it currently stands, Obsidian Entertainment is unlikely to return to the concept of Aliens: Crucible anytime soon. The studio's got its hands full with The Outer Worlds 2, Avowed, and a wide variety of other titles, and while it's not clear what to expect out of Obsidian in 2023 just yet, a new Aliens game isn't about to make that list by any stretch of the imagination.
Aliens: Crucible was in development for PC, Xbox 360, and PS3.
