The story of Crackdown as a series is an interesting one. For one the surface, it doesn’t seem like that big of an idea in comparison to other titles. It’s a shooter/open-world title where your “agent” can achieve higher and higher levels of destructive powers. What helped the series succeed was putting a beta key in with the launch of Halo 3. That got players excited, and they bought the game, and then its sequel, and now, players are eagerly awaiting Crackdown 3…which keeps getting delayed.
The game was first shown off in 2014, and then every attempt to put a release date on it ended up with the game being delayed into another year. For example, at E3 2017, it was stated that it would be launched alongside the Xbox One X. Then it got delayed to 2018…and then it got delayed to 2019. And now, word has been spread that the creator of Crackdown, Dave Jones, is no longer working on Crackdown 3…and he’s ok with that.
He talked with Polygon during E3 2018 and noted several things about the game’s development and why he left the title before it was finished. He noted that there were things happening in the background, and that eventually caused his departure, but he doesn’t feel that his departure will affect the game that much:
“In an ideal world it could have been finished faster and I would have been able to see it through to the end,” he said.
Jones made sure to note that the current developer, Sumo Digital, was always the lead on Crackdown 3. Jones and the original Crackdown team were there for support and guidance. But in his mind, they really didn’t need him:
“But to be honest, I look back at other gaming franchises I’ve worked on and they’ve done really well without me being there as well, as long as the DNA is there and the right foundations are there.”
Barring another delay, Crackdown 3 will arrive in early 2019.
