MISTBORN RPG video game cancelled

Video game studio Little Orbit have been working on a role-playing video game based on Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn novels for the past few years. Yesterday they confirmed that the project has been cancelled after a pair of publishing deals fell through.

Little Orbit announced the game as Mistborn: Birthright in 2012 and have spent five years developing a rule set and engine for the game. They took their time on the project, as Little Orbit is a relatively small company best-known for low-budget tie-ins with various properties but wanted to give this project more time and attention.

Unfortunately, Little Orbit appear to have been behind on the curve, preferring to work through publishers rather than releasing games directly to Steam or engaging in crowdfunding. When two publisher deals fell through in rapid succession, the company was forced to cancel the project and only barely survived folding altogether.

Although this is sad news, it does raise the intriguing possibility of a higher-profile company picking up the rights. The movie rights to the Mistborn series (as well as the rest of the Cosmere universe) were picked up a year ago and a writer was assigned to the first Mistborn movie back in January. If the film hits the big screen, expect to see renewed interest in the books and possible further spin-offs.

MISTBORN computer game in development

It's been confirmed that a computer game based on Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn books is in development from Little Orbit Games and Game Machine Studios.

Mistborn: Birthright is a prequel set several hundred years before the events of the first trilogy and will depict the misadventures of Fendin 'Fiddle' Fathvell, a young nobleman who must master his Allomantic powers in order to save his family. Brandon Sanderson has written the storyline for the game.

The game is due for release around Autumn 2013 on the X-Box 360, PlayStation 3, PC and Macintosh formats.

Hmm. Interesting but also risky. The game creators are pretty much total unknowns. Little Orbit and Game Machine have worked predominantly on undemanding DS and iPad/iPhone games. They are unproven at making a large-scale, Triple-A fantasy RPG that can compete with the likes of Bethesda or BioWare. That doesn't mean that they can't do a good job (everyone needs to start somewhere), just that I'd have looked for a company with a bit more experience first. Still, worth keeping an eye on.