It is common knowledge that every game release is met with a discerning eye, and this year's games were no exception. Among the titles that made headlines for all the wrong reasons was 'Skull Island: Rise of Kong.'
Released on Oct 17, 2023, it quickly became one of the year's most trashed games, earning a reputation as one of the worst releases of the year.
Gamers and critics alike wondered, "What went wrong?" It turns out that the journey of this ill-fated title is a story of ambitions thwarted by a challenging combination of limited time, tight budgets, and a troubled publisher-developer relationship.
The Game's Dismal Reception
When 'Skull Island: Rise of Kong' first hit the gaming scene, it did not take long for its flaws to surface. Social media platforms were flooded with images and clips showcasing its dated graphics and less-than-stellar gameplay.
IGN even reported players dubbing it "the worst game of 2023." But delving beyond these surface-level issues, it becomes apparent that 'Skull Island' was fighting an uphill battle from the get-go.
Behind the Scenes
To understand the beginning of this gaming disaster, we must turn our attention to the developers at IguanaBee, a small indie studio hailing from Santiago, Chile.
They were tasked with breathing life into a long-awaited game featuring the iconic giant ape, King Kong. However, their situation was far from ideal.
As one IguanaBee developer anonymously told The Verge, the game's development process started in June of the previous year, with a tight deadline to complete it by June 2 of this year.
The scope of creating a game from scratch, with only a year, would prove a Herculean task for any development team.
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GameMill Entertainment
The plot thickens when we consider the publisher behind 'Skull Island: Rise of Kong.' GameMill Entertainment, based in Minnesota, has a track record of contracting smaller development teams to craft licensed games in a remarkably short timeframe.
Kotaku tells us that anonymous developers who have worked on GameMill projects, including 'Little League World Series Baseball 2022,' the publisher often does not provide crucial information about the projects.
This limited transparency only compounds the challenges faced by development teams.
Budget Woes
Budget constraints further hindered the game's potential. IguanaBee's developers revealed that GameMill's funding was insufficient to maintain an experienced team throughout the project.
This led to a situation where, for most of 'Skull Island's' development, only a small group worked on the game simultaneously, ranging from two to 20 individuals.
As you might expect, these tight constraints paved the way for crunch, a phenomenon where developers work under excessive pressure for extended hours.
In this case, the crunch reportedly began in February. It devastated the team's morale and productivity, exemplified by the game's anonymous developer, who said, "The crunch was set in motion in February. I was on automatic pilot by the end of February because all hope was lost."
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