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Sega releasing a cancelled Golden Axe prototype stirs unpleasant memories for some of its makersNot the party Sega expected
Not the party Sega expected
Update: Sega have responded with a statement saying they didn’t mean to “dredge up painful memories” or “appear disrespectful”, and have changed the Steam description. Read it in full below.
“Golden Axed may be janky, may be buggy, may be an artifact of its time, but it offers a unique glimpse into the prospect of a project that could have been, and a rare peek behind the curtain at the sometimes tumultuous world of video game development,” Sega said onits Steam page, unaware the curtain would soon be thrown wide open to reveal much tumult.
“Woke up to the surprising news that Sega is releasing the Golden Axe prototype I coded in 2012 under crunch conditions,” programmer Tim Dawsonsaid on Twitter. “At least I’m not alone - this appears to be a surprise to everyone I know who actually worked on it.”
That kicked off a Twitter thread where he talked about frustrations with 14-hour days, management expectations, the daft idea that they could casually branch the prototype to concurrently make a Streets Of Rage pitch too, and other unpleasantness. It’s unexpectedly candid and sure shifts the tone of the digiparty.
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“This project was my personal nexus of nightmare hours, inept management, industry realisations and heroics achieved with a small team under unreasonable conditions, so it’s an odd feeling to see it surface eight years later without context, credits and with a joke title sequence,” he said. The thread is quite long, sostart herefor the full story. And he ended strong:
from the Steam Page:“Golden Axed may be janky, may be buggy, may be an artifact of its time, but it offers a unique glimpse into the prospect of a project that could have been"go fuck yourself, parasites— Tim Dawson (@ironicaccount)October 15, 2020
from the Steam Page:
“Golden Axed may be janky, may be buggy, may be an artifact of its time, but it offers a unique glimpse into the prospect of a project that could have been”
go fuck yourself, parasites
— Tim Dawson (@ironicaccount)October 15, 2020
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While Sega say they “reached out to some of the original development team to bring this dusty gem to light,” it’s certainly a surprise to others. Sanatana Mishraadded, “For what it’s worth, Tim programmed the entire thing from scratch and I was in charge of design, so when they say they reached out to the team that made it I don’t really know who that means?”
Mishra has been tweeting other bits about the development,includingthe surprise of being “told, explicitly, that there was no difference at all between how Golden Axe and Streets Of Rage played, and no point trying to research that.”
Dawson and Mishra later founded indie studio Witch Beam, who made twin-stick shooterAssault Android Cactusand have house-moving gameUnpackingout next year.
Sega have now sent us a statement:
“Sega Europe reached out to former members of the Golden Axe: Reborn dev team to produce this prototype of the game for Steam as part of our 60th Anniversary celebrations. We wanted to bring the work of the developers at the time to light and celebrate it as a part of our history. Something we didn’t get the chance to do first time around. We certainly didn’t mean to dredge up painful memories for Mr. Dawson and his former colleagues or appear disrespectful. We’ve removed the line from the Steam copy that could have been taken as a slur on the development and would like to reassure everyone that it was intended as a comment on the build we had ported to PC, not the quality of the original work. We’re hoping lots of fans play the prototype and can appreciate the work he and his colleagues put into this developing this prototype.”
They’ve cut the bit saying it “may be janky, may be buggy, may be an artifact of its time”.
