Stargate Worlds Dev: 'The Lights Are Still On, Development Continues'

Development of the troubled MMO Stargate Worlds is still underway, claims senior marketing manager Kevin Balentine in response to publicly-aired concerns about the game's fate by Stargate television show producer Brad Wright. "The lights are still on and Stargate Worlds development continues," Balentine wrote in a statement sent to Gamasutra. Speaking to Stargate coverage site GateWorld, Wright expressed his doubts that the game would see release. "If it doesn’t happen -- and, let's be honest, it should be happening now if it was happening -- it’s a shame," he said. "They had an opportunity and they got our support, and they obviously had significant funding, and it didn't happen." Developed by Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment -- which now operates as the publisher and developer FireSky -- Stargate Worlds has had funding problems and the company has been in the news for allegedly not paying its developers for a period of time. In his statement, Balentine acknowledged those issues, but said the game is still in the works. He pointed out that while Wright has served as a consultant for the development team, he had not been appraised on the title's current status. The remainder of the statement follows: "I’ve been asked from many corners lately to provide an official response to a story circulated by Gateworld.net. I spoke with Darren Sumner, the author of the story, soon after it was posted and gave him a detailed response to the article which he decided not to publish. "Our official response is that the lights here are still on and the development team is working hard every day to get this game built. Team members are in the office seven days a week to deliver Stargate Worlds. Brad Wright is the Stargate expert and a creative consultant on Stargate Worlds who advises us on the story; unfortunately we had not recently updated him on our progress or the impact from the current global economic crisis, and he was not fully aware of the continuing progress on our game. "It’s true that the production of Stargate Worlds has been significantly impacted by the greatest worldwide economic downturn in decades, but we are still raising enough money from angel investors to keep the dev team working. "We are currently negotiating several deals that will cover our financial responsibilities and fund the remainder of development. When we sign those deals, you’ll hear about it. Until then, we’ll keep building Stargate Worlds, because right now, that’s the only thing that matters to us."