Mirror’s Edge 2 no Longer on Hiatus

(Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on July 8, 2011 by Jon Rivera for an outside publication.)

 

This viral faux wanted poster featuring Faith Connor’s visage was widely distributing in an effort to build hype for her debut in Mirror’s Edge in 2008.

 

Roughly three years have passed since Mirror’s Edge debuted on the Xbox 360 and PS3 in late 2008. This, along with immensely successful sci fi horror third person shooter Dead Space, made up a double shot of original intellectual properties in an attempt on EA’s part to freshen things up in the industry. This effort was only half successful as Dead Space has moved on to be a popular franchise as where Mirror’s Edge has been left behind. However, it is not hard to see why this is the case.

Dead Space was a relatively safe move on EA’s part, but Mirror’s Edge was a bold yet risky move and the game did not pull the numbers that EA was expecting. Clearly, Mirror’s Edge did not fare well with the critics or the holiday season release. Nonetheless, lead producer Owen O’Brian went on to say that the first Mirror’s Edge was meant to be one part in a trilogy as far as the story arc goes. On top of this, it was confirmed in the middle of 2009 by EA Europe’s senior vice president Patrick Söderland that a small development team at DICE was working on the follow up to Mirror’s Edge. Unfortunately, there has been very little information on how the development was progressing.

At first it seemed as if Mirror’s Edge 2 was a possibility and that this IP would grow into a franchise, but in the middle of February EA officially pulled the plug on the project. Allegedly, a prototype made by the DICE team was presented to EA which resulted in EA rejecting the build outright. While this may have been a questionable move, it is important to note that EA could have been reallocating development muscle to work on Battlefield 3 which is from one of the company’s larger franchises.

This caused a substantial amount of unrest in the gaming blog community. Over time the first game garnered a dedicated fan base. Some of these folks have been waiting ever since first game launched three years ago. This discontent must have made its way back to EA because the company issued a response to 1up.com stating that Mirror’s Edge is “an important franchise”, but refused to comment on Mirror’s Edge 2’s current state and did not confirm or deny any rumor relating to EA pulling the ME2 team in order to work on Battlefield 3. During a recent Gametrailers.com interview, Frank Gibeau of EA alluded toward Mirror’s Edge 2 no longer being put on hiatus and also hinted at this title taking full use of Battlefield 3’s Frostbite 2 engine. He also went to say that everyone at the company has much love for the franchise which is curious considering how rocky the development process has been thus far and what Gibeau has stated in the past in ill favor of the first Mirror’s Edge game.

Mirror’s Edge definitely had a very striking visual style that was the antithesis of most other games that take place in the first person perspective. There are not many games like Mirror’s Edge and more people in the gaming community are realizing it and fans of it are most likely ecstatic to know that EA has not given up on this franchise. Hopefully, other developers and publishers take notice and will also not shy away from creating games that are different and attempt try things that other games do not.

 

 

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