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Capcom further explains why Mega Man Legends 3 was canned

by rawmeatcowboy
25 July 2013
GN Version 4.0
Coming from Capcom's GregaMan...

To be sure, I don't think when Sven said it "could take years" to get an explanation he was promising one once we'd passed the "years" mark. We're still beholden to the same restrictions as before (although he has left Capcom, soooo I have no idea?). Although I gather you just figured this was a decent time to give us another nudge.

As some have already pointed out, it's not at all uncommon for games to be canceled mid-production, even (or especially) for major publishers, for major brands. The difference in Legends 3's case is that it was announced publicly from its earliest planning stages, while most games that meet this fate are nixed long before ever being revealed outside office walls. This of course was the whole point--an experiment in transparency for what was clearly a passion project in need of an "angle"--and frankly a pretty odd one, when you think about it. Remember that Legends 3 was essentially a 10-year-late sequel to a sequel to a spin-off, that had middling success even back when it was one of the only games of its kind--before 3D Action-Adventure was an established genre, if you can even remember that far back. And consider its place within the greater Mega Man brand. If you thought DmC was a deviation from the Devil May Cry brand, remember that MML (MmL?) changed virtually everything you could possibly change about Mega Man. Even I remember scoffing at the sight of it until I got my hands on it and realized it stood on its own merits. Then consider that the game was destined for a platform that didn't even exist yet in the wild. All that isn't to say MML3 was a "bad" project--it was just weird. But MML has always been a passion project, not a cash cow. Hence the Devroom angle.

I guess you could say, then, that the cancellation of the project wasn't actually anything out of the ordinary. What was out of the ordinary is that everbody knew about it. The Devroom and the MML3 project's utter transparency were nigh-unprecedented experiments with high risks. They were risks that, sadly, delivered the full brunt of their severity. Look at us. Two years later and we're still here talking about it. I want to know, guys, and please take this question in earnest: Knowing how the project turned out, would you rather have not known about its existence to begin with?

I want to believe that despite the grief, despite the years of community "managing" that have resulted for me and my team (all of whom were not in the company's employ at the time of the cancellation), there was still merit in the experiment, for you and for me. The Mega Man community is the strongest and most aligned it's ever been. We didn't get a game, but we got real stories of human beings coming together with other human beings and doing incredible things. I'm not trying to give the company a pat on the back for this incidental outcome. I'm giving you all a collective one.

We as a publisher learned valuable lessons about the role community can, should, will by any means necessary play. In my mind the Devroom marked a maturation of our still-fledgling community initiative. A milestone lesson learned and taken to heart. How lucky am I that I started my career here by helming the craziest, weirdest, most volatile experiment ever ventured by this department? MML3 realigned our compass, and whether you know it or not, you've all had an impact on Capcom. It is my hope that in time this will lead to decisions that bring happiness to each and every one of you.

Full statement here (thanks Connor!)