[Update]: According to Playnews, as reported by Darkside of Gaming, Sega America producer Matthew J. Powers said during an Italian launch event that "the game has been developed by Gearbox Software. Other studios [like TimeGate] helped Gearbox on the production of single and multiplayer."
In addition, a moderator on the TimeGate forums wrote that the studio "basically had a hand in everything" and that to know how much of TimeGate's work remained in the final product would require the developers to play through… the final product.
Of course, I can't find a link to the original Playnews report and this is just a moderator on the forums, so who the fuck knows anymore? Bottom line: you dun fucked up Sega/Gearbox/Timegate/Demiurge/Nerve.
[Original Post]: Aliens: Colonial Marines has had a rocky first week and it hasn't even received its review from GameRevolution! Sega and Gearbox Software can't be happy with the product they released on Tuesday, and according to inside sources, it totally wasn't their fault, guys.
While much of this information is unconfirmed, something had to have happened to create such a poor showing for the beloved Aliens franchise, so just take this as one account. In truth, we'll probably never know what happened while Aliens: Colonial Marines sat in development for six years, but whatever we do, we shouldn't blame Gearbox guys. It's not their fault.
According to a post on Reddit, Sega announced the game too early, in fact before production on the game had even started. So right off the bat, we know that it's Sega's fault, and not Gearbox's. The redditor continues to reveal that after many delays in favor of other projects at Gearbox (including Borderlands and Duke Nukem Forever), the studio finally decided to assign the "majority of campaign" to TimeGate studios, best known for Section 8.
When Gearbox got the campaign back from their outsourced studio, they weren't happy with the final product. I'd imagine so. I have great ideas all the time and when I give them to my dog, he does NOTHING with them. So obviously, it's not Gearbox's fault. It's TimeGate's fault. Not Gearbox. TimeGate.
Following numerous extensions, Gearbox finished up Borderlands 2 and then set about redesigning and fixing what they could. "There were some last minute feature requests, most notably female marines." However, the redditor continues, "the general consensus among GBX devs was that there was no way this game was going to be good by ship. There just wasn't enough time."
So again, Gearbox isn't at fault here! If anything they're the victims! They're the victims who over-promised, didn't do the work, and asked for extensions left and right because TimeGate couldn't get the campaign the way Gearbox wanted. Not Gearbox, TimeGate. Those are the guys you want to stab with your pitchforks and burn with your torches.
This isn't because GBX didn't care, mind you. At a certain point, they couldn't risk changing ANYTHING that might cause them to fail certification or break some other system. And so, the product you see is what you get.
The redditor also goes on to point fingers at 20th Century Fox over the story and ends his post with hope for DLC to answer questions and flesh out the campaign. That means, in case you were wondering, that the story isn't Gearbox's fault either.
The moral of the story? Sign a contract, reneg on it repeatedly over the course of 6 years, and then continue Sega's spiral into oblivion by blaming it on everyone else. Bottom line, follow Shaggy's lead.
