Aliens: Colonial Marines hits stores today, and with it, a series of scathing negative reviews. Between Aliens and Duke Nukem Forever developer Gearbox' batting average has fallen into a downward spiral. With such a negative response, the finger pointing between publisher Sega and Gearbox has already begun.
An ex-Gearbox employee said that, while Colonial Marines development process could be categorized as a "trainwreck," the company wasn't responsible for the the majority of the game's development, mostly just the game's multiplayer. According to Twitter sleuth Superannuation, who found thecomment posted by TXAGS forum-goer under "mugwurt," claims that: "Primary development was outsourced to TimeGate Studios, which has a less than stellar past."
And TimeGate does seem to have a... lackluster pedigree. The studio scored big with a F.E.A.R. DLC pack Extraction Point, which was named "Best Expansion Pack of 2006" by PC Gamer. However, the studio went on to develop a shooter of their own, Section 8, in 2009, which received fairly mediocre reviews and scores.
Gearbox president Randy Pitchford has since admitted that TimeGate did play a role in development. Pitchford told GameSpot back in June that he had found some "development partners" for Colonial Marines who had "brought some incredible ideas to the table, including TimeGate Studios."
Sega has denied that work was directly outsourced to the company, maintaining that Gearbox was the game's primary developer. It's been reported that Sega of America's Senior Producer, Matthew J. Powers, told Playnews earlier today that "the game has been developed by Gearbox Software. Other studios helped Gearbox on the production of single and multiplayer."
Whatever the case, the reviews that have been coming in are generally calling Aliens: Colonial Marines less than praiseworthy.