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[GavinUK86]

http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2017/07/11/wtf-is-going-on-with-wild-west-online

Wild West Online first appeared on Kotaku UK's radar a couple of months ago, when we received dozens of emails pointing towards a GTA forum where an apparently ‘leaked' screenshot of Red Dead Redemption 2 had been posted. Being suspicious sorts, we stayed away, and it turned out this was an unconventional reveal strategy — after all, an unattributed screenshot of Wild West Online on a Rockstar-focused board was obviously going to create Red Dead Confusion. After this flurry of attention, the publisher stepped in to reveal all.

Depending on your perspective, this is clever or cynical marketing. Subsequent to this, however, as details of WWO emerged it was linked to controversial developer Sergey Titov — a connection which the publisher has denied. Titov is behind various companies that have produced several poor-quality games, the most infamous of which are the zombie sim War Z and Big Rigs. The publisher's denial is a denial and yet, even now, unexplained coincidences around WWO raise questions.

Wild West Online is, as the name suggests, a cowboy-themed massively multiplayer open world action game. It looked decent enough in its initial screens and in the first gameplay walkthrough, released by developer 612 Games yesterday.

Even so, something about the early screenshots immediately raised the suspicions of Redditor TheSkiesAreShattered, who suggested that Wild West Online was using the engine built by Sergey Titov's company Free Reign Entertainment. Free Reign more recently developed and released the game Shattered Skies, which has less-than-stellar Steam ratings mainly complain about it being abandoned by the developers.

Although TheSkiesAreShattered's initial post has since been removed, it was enough to stoke the curiosity of other internet sleuths. YouTuber BigfryTV, for instance, posted a video highlighting further connections, albeit circumstantial, between Wild West Online and Free Reign Entertainment.

Uh oh. This doesn't sound too good.

 

[Neptonic]

oh no

 

[Iva Demilcol]

Who's Sergei Titov and why should we care if he developed a game?

I'm actually serious, I don't know who's this guy.

 

[mre]

Who's Sergei Titov and why should we care if he developed a game?

I'm actually serious, I don't know who's this guy.

Titov is behind various companies that have produced several poor-quality games, the most infamous of which are the zombie sim War Z and Big Rigs.

 

[SchrodingerC]

Titov is behind various companies that have produced several poor-quality games, the most infamous of which are the zombie sim War Z and Big Rigs.

Oh lord, that Titov? I was wondering when his next would surface.

 

[Nirolak]

Who's Sergei Titov and why should we care if he developed a game?

I'm actually serious, I don't know who's this guy.

Basically the person is known for helming games that are considered to be of astonishingly poor quality, often shady business practices, and being abandoned by the developers.

 

[Aztechnology]

Well I hadn't heard of this game. But if Titov's stench is even wafting by I'll give it a wide birth.

 

[Retro Edge]

All interest died immediately now.

 

[tci]

I'd rather wait and see the product near completion before I decide to make up my mind about it. This seems to be mostly nothing. It's like someone can't make anything good if he has done bad games before.

 

[EdibleKnife]

Yeah the "reveal" has been very scattershot and unfocused. The gameplay seemed tight but it gives off an air of a game that would break a lot. And it seems that feeling might not be coming from nowhere with the pedigree of dev we're dealing with. Hope I'm wrong since I wouldn't mind such an experience on PC. The character creation options they showed a peek of were pathetic though so I hope it's expanded

 

[Hupsel]

It´s gonna be a shitty game. The developer track record is... ehhh

 

[Mesoian]

I'd rather wait and see the product near completion before I decide to make up my mind about it. This seems to be mostly nothing. It's like someone can't make anything good if he has done bad games before.

That's fine.

I think the thing to take away from all this is, "don't spend any money on this until it releases".

 

[red731]

All interest died immediately now.

Tito

Spoiler

v

.

 

[Raigan5088]

The War Z was one of the biggest fuck ups i have ever seen in my 20 years of gaming.

The developer told blatant lies to the customers, their steam page was littered with bullshit about the game about features that were not in the game and are not to this day.

The game was a complete copy/paste job of War Inc with zombies.

The customer service side this dev had was appalling.

This Titov was behind it.

Defiantly will not be buying anything this man is involved with.

As far as gaming and his name goes, its poison.

I'd urge everyone to keep clear of this game and anything Titov is involved with

For reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtKAm3nzg6I

 

[Raigan5088]

The War Z was one of the biggest fuck ups i have ever seen in my 20 years of gaming.

The developer told blatant lies to the customers, their steam page was littered with bullshit about the game about features that were not in the game and are not to this day.

The game was a complete copy/paste job of War Inc with zombies.

The customer service side this dev had was appalling.

This Titov was behind it.

Defiantly will not be buying anything this man is involved with.

As far as gaming and his name goes, its poison.

I'd urge everyone to keep clear of this game and anything Titov is involved with

For reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtKAm3nzg6I

In October 2012, executive producer Sergey Titov referred to spawn campers in The War Z as "faggots" in a forum post



*sorry, accidentally clicked quote rather than edit

 

[dex3108]

I don't think that it is fair to advise people to stay away based on unconfirmed things. I went on 612 Games forum and they have realllllllllly long FAQ about this game and as far as i saw it they are open and they talk about everything

http://forum.playwwo.com/index.php?/topic/118-faq-frequently-asked-questions/

There will also be open alpha/beta according to them. I really wouldn't want to see developer get screwed because of the rumors. Be cautious but also follow game development and judge by yourself.

 

[benicillin]

How is this guy still around! He's like a Scooby Doo villain.

 

[arcticice]

The recent gameplay video wasn't impressive at all, soooo yeaahhh. i wouldn't get my hopes up and just wait for RDR2.

 

[TheVoidDragon]

I don't think that it is fair to advise people to stay away based on unconfirmed things. I went on 612 Games forum and they have realllllllllly long FAQ about this game and as far as i saw it they are open and they talk about everything

http://forum.playwwo.com/index.php?/topic/118-faq-frequently-asked-questions/

There will also be open alpha/beta according to them. I really wouldn't want to see developer get screwed because of the rumors. Be cautious but also follow game development and judge by yourself.

The article gives the impression that while none of this is actually outright confirmed, there are a lot of very shady and suspicious things relating to it that don't really seem to add up if this guy doesn't have some actual involvement to some degree. I don't know too much about what he's been involved (i wouldn't normally recognize his name, but The War Z is something i remember) him being involved sounds like it isn't a good thing in the slightest if that's actually true.

As for the people here saying "A bad game doesn't mean they're all going to be bad", i'd agree that with usually...but that doesn't seem to be the case here. It seems like it goes beyond just making bad games. When someone is consistently involved with bad games, in that the games in some ways seem closer to scams with outright lies and treating customers poorly, that then end up being abandoned before moving onto the next game, and then their involvement seemingly being hidden with that game, i think it gets to a point where it giving them another chance is just not going to be worth it. That's just based on what i've read in this article though, maybe he isn't involved after all but from the information there something isn't right.