As long as it passes certification
Motiga’s free-to-play MOBA Gigantic has sort of been in a state of limbo for a while now. A series of beta events started in 2015. Microsoft eventually pulled out as the publisher. The studio suffered layoffs in February 2016 and March 2017 — the most recent one affecting nearly a fifth of the team. Gigantic seemed kind of stuck.
Finally, there’s light at the end of the tunnel. In a developer blog, Motiga reveals that Gigantic is currently scheduled to release by the end of June. “The team has been laser-focused on launching the game very soon. We’re not quite ready to talk about a specific date, but things are on track for a major update before the end of the month,” the post reads.
This, however, depends on the game passing Microsoft’s certification process. That’s not necessarily a given, as plenty of titles fail cert in their first submission. If that happens, Gigantic‘s proper release will almost certainly be pushed back into July.
The blog also mentions that Motiga reworked the new player onboarding experience. As the developer notes, Gigantic is a tough game to get the hang of right away, especially for people who are trying to play it like a hero shooter. Now, it’ll supposedly do a better job of explaining the mechanics and systems to the player.
Those players will see for themselves if Gigantic is easy to grasp sometime in the near future when it releases on PC and Xbox One. Games like this need to have a lengthy lifespan after launch, constantly changing and evolving to stay relevant. But, considering what Gigantic has been through, making it to launch is in itself big news.
The State of Gigantic, June 2017 [Gigantic]
