We got a first look at the Alien: Blackout trailer yesterday which looks like a spiritual successor to Alien Isolation. Unfortunately, the mobile exclusivity for the game, which arrives on January 24, has seen a surge of dislikes. Fans have criticized the choice as being one that shows how out-of-touch developers and publishers are with its fanbase.
As it stands, the trailer, which was originally uploaded yesterday morning before being taken down and re-uploaded later in the day, has already amassed around 12,000 dislikes for the video. Only around 300 people have liked the video, and as you might expect, the disparity between those figures has seen a lot of people taking aim at the platform availability for Alien: Blackout.
Some of those dislikes come from people who suggest that Blackout demonstrates how ‘devs these days are becoming more and more out of touch,’ while others say that the choice is the ‘same terrible mistake in the Alien franchise than in the Diablo franchise with Diablo: Immortal mobile game,’ Though, a far more interesting conversation is unfolding in a Reddit thread about the game. Users suggest that as mobile games offer relatively cheaper overhead compared to PC and console titles, it seems only natural that publishers look to invest further in the area.
It’s a sentiment that was echoed in a far more aggressive manner by Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot, who spoke in an interview about the future of gaming. Guillemot suggested that the next-gen cycle of consoles will be the last iteration of conventional consoles before the industry moves towards a streaming service. Whether Alien: Blackout is the latest sign of this happening or whether it’s simply a different announcement to what fans were hoping for is something that we can only partly answer right now, and fans are undeniably raging at the announcement.
Alien: Blackout sees you play as Amanda Ripley, with gameplay sticking you to one spot as you direct a crew to safety from a Xenomorph using radars and camera feeds. It’s pretty much a mash-up of Alien Isolation and Five Nights at Freddy’s.