True Crime: Hong Kong was canceled earlier this year by Activision, and now picked back up by Square Enix, who has just set a time frame for the game’s release.
It was only a few days ago that we reported to you about True Crime: Hong Kong‘s rescue scenario, where Square Enix acquire the publishing rights to the game after seeing potential in it that apparently wasn’t worth Activision’s time or money. The publisher is excited about the new acquisition, with their London Studios general manager Lee Singleton saying, “When we first saw and got our hands on the game we fell in love with it.” However, at the time they were moot on the point of release dates, with him stating “We’re not talking about release timings or formats at this time.”
Apparently that amount of time was quite short, because earlier today we found a posting on Square Enix’s website stating the game will be releasing sometime in 2012. The game formerly known as True Crime: Hong Kong was previously slated for this November, so it’s clear that United Front Games still has a bit of work to do on it yet, perhaps including thinking of a new title. It was also mentioned that since the acquisition of publishing rights the name would need to be changed, but to something fairly straight forward according to Singleton. In the mean time United Front Games seems happy to be able to finish their project, with President Stefan Wessels saying they are “really pleased to be working with Square Enix London Studios and their excitement on the game means a great deal to us.” Hopefully this is Activision’s folly to Square Enix’s benefit, since there have been rumblings of Square Enix’s projected profits being slashed, leading many to speculate about their future success.
