True Crime: Hong Kong Message Board

Update: Square Enix has confirmed Sleeping Dogs, the reincarnation of True Crime: Hong Kong. The publisher sent out a new live-action trailer and notes the game will be available "in the second half of 2012."

Original: "Sleeping Dogs" isn't lying down, shifting from trademark to passively announced title. Canadian retailer Future Shop's official gaming Twitter account posted a poster for Square Enix's Sleeping Dogs and announced an expected launch of August 2012 for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. It notes the game will be available to pre-order soon.

Given the art, the game may not be a Kane & Lynch follow-up as first speculated, but possibly the reincarnation of True Crime: Hong Kong. Activision cancelled the latest True Crime installment last February, with CEO Eric Hirshberg telling us, "The finished product was not going to be at the top of that genre."

Then, last August, Square Enix picked up the rights to the game, but not the True Crime intellectual property, meaning the publisher would need to rename the game before putting it out there. It appears Square Enix is making moves to solve this Chinese puzzle box very soon.

"Sleeping Dogs" isn't lying down, shifting from trademark to passively announced title. Canadian retailer Future Shop's official gaming Twitter account posted a poster for Square Enix's Sleeping Dogs and announced an expected launch of August 2012 for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. It notes the game will be available to pre-order soon.

Given the art, the game may not be a Kane & Lynch follow-up as first speculated, but possibly the reincarnation of True Crime: Hong Kong. Activision cancelled the latest True Crime installment last February, with CEO Eric Hirshberg telling us, "The finished product was not going to be at the top of that genre."

Then, last August, Square Enix picked up the rights to the game, but not the True Crime intellectual property, meaning the publisher would need to rename the game before putting it out there. It appears Square Enix is making moves to solve this Chinese puzzle box very soon.

Square-Enix has announced Sleeping Dogs, a new "gritty, open-world cop drama" from developer United Front Games. Set in Hong Kong, it promises "intense shoot-outs, adrenaline-fuelled street races and intense, brutal martial arts combat". (So... pretty intense, then?) The studio had been working on True Crime: Hong Kong for years before Activision canned it in 2011. Square-Enix picked up the pieces in August last year, and Square-Enix London has been supervising development since...

After the True Crime reboot was canned, Square Enix brought the Activision title, back from the dead. However, as Kotaku reported back in Aug. 2011, the game, then True Crime: Hong Kong, would not bear the name True Crime. More »

#truecrime The True Crime game canned by publisher Activision earlier this year has been revived. It just won't bear the True Crime name at its new home, Final Fantasy, Deus Ex and Hitman publisher Square Enix. More »

Square Enix has obtained the rights to True Crime: Hong Kong, a project that was canceled by Activision earlier this year, according to a new report by Gamasutra...

"The finished product was not going to be at the top of that genre," Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg told Joystiq following the sudden cancellation of the publisher's True Crime: Hong Kong reboot in February. That blunt assessment hasn't stopped Square Enix from picking up the rights to the United Front Games-developed title from Activision and placing it under the management of Square Enix London Studios and its general manager, Lee Singleton.

"When we first saw and got our hands on the game we fell in love with it," Singleton tells Gamasutra, further describing the game as a "great big bucket of fun." Square Enix London Studios knows a thing or two about "fun." The organization is tasked to provide a "fresh approach to third party game development" and, in that pursuit, it's managed games like Rocksteady Studios' Batman: Arkham Asylum and Avalanche Studios open-world Just Cause 2.

Since Square Enix didn't purchase the (somewhat worthless) True Crime IP, it appears it will be renaming the game; the "branding team is already working on concepts," Gama reports. And while the-game-formerly-known-as-True-Crime-Hong-Kong was destined for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC this November, Square's not ready to even address those specifics. After the game's cancellation, the development team had to "scale back" but now that Square Enix has picked up the title, "we're ready to turn up the heat and get the team up to capacity," Singleton says.

For his part, Activision's Hirshberg tells Gama, "Our team has worked very hard to find a solution where everybody wins. Square Enix gets the benefit of the tremendous investment we've made in the game thus far. UFG gets to stay together and complete their vision. And gamers get to play a great game. We couldn't be more thrilled." And while most gamers will no doubt look forward to the title's release, if only to play "Would I Have Cancelled It," Singleton reminds us that the game still needs work. "We are committed to working with the team at United Front Games and giving them the time needed to realize the full potential of the game's standout features and create a truly unique open world adventure." Now we wait to see if Square's able to release something "at the top of that genre."

Despite a recent cover story in EGM, it seems that United Front's True Crime: Hong Kong may not make it to retail. Speaking with anonymous sources, Eurogamer reports that not only has True Crime been cut, but Activision's Guitar Hero franchise is also no more.

If that weren't enough bad news, the report also claims that DJ Hero developer Freestyle Games has suffered "severe layoffs," though it's unclear whether the series has been affected by the alleged redundancies. We've contacted all the pertinent parties and will update this post as we hear more. A scheduled Activision quarterly financial call set to start shortly will hopefully tell us more.

Despite a recent cover story in EGM, United Front's True Crime: Hong Kong won't make it to retail. Activision's latest earnings report confirms the game's cancellation, as well as the end ofthe Guitar Hero franchise.

"Due to continued declines in the music genre, the company will disband Activision Publishing's Guitar Hero business unit and discontinue development on its Guitar Hero game for 2011," Activision said in its financial statement. The statement continues, confirming the cancellation of True Crime: Hong Kong and explains what happened ... sorta. "The company also will stop development on True Crime: Hong Kong. These decisions are based on the desire to focus on the greatest opportunities that the company currently has to create the world's best interactive entertainment experiences."

If that weren't enough bad news, Eurogamer also reports that DJ Hero developer Freestyle Games has suffered "severe layoffs," though it's unclear whether the series has been affected by the alleged redundancies. We'll update this post as we learn more.

[Update: An earlier version of this post was based solely on Eurogamer's report, which has since been partially confirmed by Activision.]

Despite a recent cover story in EGM, United Front's True Crime: Hong Kong won't make it to retail. Activision's latest earnings report confirms the game's cancellation, as well as announcing that Activision's Guitar Hero franchise is no more.

"Due to continued declines in the music genre, the company will disband Activision Publishing's Guitar Hero business unit and discontinue development on its Guitar Hero game for 2011," Activision said in its financial statement. The statement continues, confirming the cancellation of True Crime: Honk Kong. and explaining what happened ... sorta. "The company also will stop development on True Crime: Hong Kong. These decisions are based on the desire to focus on the greatest opportunities that the company currently has to create the world's best interactive entertainment experiences."

If that weren't enough bad news, Eurogamer reports that DJ Hero developer Freestyle Games has suffered "severe layoffs," though it's unclear whether the series has been affected by the alleged redundancies. We've contacted all the pertinent parties and will update this post as we hear more. A scheduled Activision quarterly financial call set to start shortly will hopefully tell us more.

Two major Activision games face the chopping block.

#delayofgame Activision did its part to thin the typically obese late year release schedule today, delaying True Crime: Hong Kong to next year. Originally planned for release this fall, the PS3, PC and Xbox 360 game will hit in 2011. Why? More »

Activision delays open-world game.

#e3 One of Activision's big fall games is a revival of its open-world True Crime series, the closest thing the publisher has to a Grand Theft Auto. More »

Dude squids it up and backs it in on a Hong Kong knockoff CBR.

Punch, kick and slam people's faces into air conditioners.