More allegations recently leveled against Gearbox involving the mess with Aliens Colonial Marines

2/20/13 12:00pm

According to Destructoid, recent allegations against Gearbox reveal the company deceived both Sega and 2K several times while also funneling money away from the project towards other projects.

The source who remained anonymous was a former employee who worked on the project between 2007 and 2008. Backing up his claims were stories from others he was in close contact with on both Aliens: Colonial Marines and Borderlands project.

The claims allege Gearbox was gradually pulling members away from the Aliens project while deceiving Sega into thinking a full team was still working and possibly faking the milestone reports being sent to them. This was done to ensure the main focus of the company was shifted towards the Borderlands project during the time of the massive changes occurring within the project.

"Gearbox was taking people off the project to put them on Borderlands 1," he says of his time on the job. "This was before the big art style change happened on Borderlands. Our team was getting smaller by the month, making it very difficult to get the game made. Ironically several of the team members were ex-3D Realms people who were saying [paraphrasing] 'Finally, we're going to Gearbox to make Aliens, and we're going to ship a fucking game!' Hah."

To help fund the changes needed for Borderlands, Gearbox was alleged to be diverting funds solely meant for Aliens Colonial Marines in favor of Borderlands without Sega's knowledge or permission. Sega finally became aware of the deception by late 2008 and ended up temporary cancelling the project which resulted in layoffs to occur at Gearbox as a result.

"At some point in 2008, SEGA temporarily pulled the plug on the game," he said. "They caught wind of Gearbox shifting resources (despite still collecting milestone checks as if the team were full size) and lying to SEGA AND 2K about the number of people working on each project. This led to the round of layoffs at Gearbox in late 2008."

The source also revealed both Gearbox and the development team were fully aware the game was going to become a huge bust, but wasn't allowed any more delays to salvage the mess created.

» Source: http://www.destructoid.com/developer-gearbox-lied-to-sega-2k-over-colonial-marines-245986.phtml
» Tagged In: #2K games, #Aliens Colonial Marines, #borderlands, #community showcase, #Deception, #Gearbox, #Sega

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g1 DISCUSSIONS

Tom the Iron Man

February 21, 2013 - 9:53am

This whole rumor about Gearbox siphoning money from Sega for Aliens to work on Borderlands 1 is just getting weird, like done intentionally.Like almost Gearbox was intentionally volunteering to get the high profile budget for a licensed title just to use it to fund a pet project (Borderlands) that ultimately ended up being a mega-smash for them as a company. It's like they were betting against the market, and won.

Tyrany42

February 21, 2013 - 4:42am

I do like the Borderlands games...but if Gearbox is going to pull crap like this, you can't really defend someone who's digging their own grave.

some_other_guy

February 20, 2013 - 6:13pm

This whole Colonial Marines thing just gets uglier and uglier by the day.

CrazyDuck

February 20, 2013 - 3:33pm

If this is true .... That's some shady business practices right there .... Law suits up the butt are in order if gearbox is doing things like this.

AgentKane

February 20, 2013 - 11:02am

I am not going to trust anything Jim Sterling says. Given how a man was able to get several sites to post false Nextbox claims and how butthurt Jim is over Aliens:CM, I wouldn't be surprised if Jim is fucking lying over this.

Lloyf

February 19, 2013 - 11:11pm

So what happened with Aliens? I wasn't paying attention. Did it get allot of hype and then end up being super terrible like Duke Nukem forever?

Emblem

February 20, 2013 - 1:23pm

That...and the demo was literally better than the game. Graphically, AI wise, storywise...So yeah, shit hit the fan on this one.

RiaraTan

February 20, 2013 - 1:07pm

Hopefully this makes people aware of, if not help kill off Gearbox. With things like this coming to light... hopefully people remember the faults of the 2 Borderlands games, the whole SEASON PASS PREORDER DLC stuff, and Duke Nukem Forever. Need I say more? Gearbox sure doesn't seem to be trustworthy and hopefully people don't blindly trust anyone in the gaming world. If we can't trust these guys, who can we trust?

PineyCreek

February 20, 2013 - 3:51pm

Trust no one. Wait until its proven before you drop the cash.

Backfire

February 20, 2013 - 12:41pm

According to reviews I've seen, the general consensus is that it is a huge disappointment for all the hype it got. The gameplay itself is solid and the visuals are impressive, but the AI, story, and features are laughable and frustrating.