The Free2Play action MOBA Gigantic is now available on PC, Steam, Windows 10, and Xbox One. However, for a long time, it did not seem like the colorful game would ever be released. Read all the details and anecdotes from a truly turbulent development history here.
Gigantic is a colorful and fast-paced action MOBA game that can be played cross-platform on PC via Steam, Perfect World’s platform Arc, Windows 10, and Xbox One. Since the Steam launch at the end of July, the game has been doing fairly well and enjoys positive Steam reviews. However, it was by no means a given that it would come this far. Gigantic’s future was on the line more than once during development and the game was on the brink of failure.
Gigantic – From PvPvE dungeon brawler to hero MOBA shooter
Gigantic was originally supposed to be a completely different game in 2014. The original concept of Gigantic was that two teams would rush through a mini-dungeon and battle a big boss and each other in the middle. During the first gameplay tests, it became clear that the PvP part was much more fun than fighting the boss.
At that time, the concept of today’s Gigantic was already formed: An open arena where you must defeat the opposing giant with the help of your own beast and summon helpful creatures at certain locations. However, the redesign took time and money, and the developer studio Motiga was running out of funds. A new investor was needed.
Gigantic – Microsoft comes to the rescue and brings about the downfall
This saving investor was none other than the software giant Microsoft. Under its aegis, Gigantic was to be released in 2015. However, Microsoft imposed a high price for its support: Gigantic had to be released exclusively on Microsoft platforms. In plain language, this meant that Gigantic could only run on Xbox One and Windows 10.
That alone was a drawback. Worse, however, was that due to the Microsoft platform constraint, much of the previous development work was wasted. The Xbox did not support a separate frontend from the game, which had been the usual method in Gigantic to find a match before the game and communicate with other players.
The developers had to rebuild the frontend from scratch, which took time and money. Thus, the release in 2015 was not possible. Worse still, by the end of the year, money became so tight that they had to let go of 16 less essential employees to use the remaining budget for as long as possible.
Gigantic at the end, everything is over! Or…?
All the savings did not help; by February 2016, all of Microsoft’s money was gone and the game was still not finished. Therefore, Motiga’s CEO Chris Chung had to heart-wrenchingly gather all 75 employees and deliver sad news: “You are all fired; there is no money left.”
With that, Gigantic was essentially dead; however, something happened that still seems bizarre to Chung and many Motiga employees today: the next day, all employees returned to their desks and continued to work on the game. It was as if they had never been fired.
For 3.5 weeks, 90% of the staff worked tirelessly on. Only a few decided to leave as the financial situation was too precarious. The remaining employees put in overtime and night shifts, doing their utmost to finish the game. They believed so much in the idea behind Gigantic that the game simply had to succeed.
Gigantic – Perseverance pays off
The fighting spirit and optimism of the Motiga employees paid off in the end. Chris Chung desperately searched for new investors and ultimately found them at Perfect World. The publisher had successfully distributed the MMOs Neverwinter and Star Trek Online and had experience with online games.
During a studio visit at Motiga, the representatives of Perfect World were deeply impressed by the employees who, despite being fired, were still working late at night and passionately held on to their game. At the end of the visit, Yufan Zhang said to Chris Chung: “Chris, we can do this!”
Uncomplicated help
Nevertheless, the financial situation of the staff was unclear. Enthusiasm and optimism do not help when one has bills and rent to pay. And since negotiations for publishing deals can drag on for weeks, the end of Motiga and Gigantic was still looming.
Of course, Perfect World did not want that to happen. Therefore, shortly after the start of negotiations, a small financial injection from the publisher to Motiga was provided so the studio could pay its salaries and operating costs.
Perfect ending thanks to Perfect World
In May 2016, the deal was finally sealed: Gigantic was published by Perfect World and could finally be properly developed to completion. In 2017, Gigantic was gradually released on all planned platforms and since Microsoft was no longer involved, the game could now also be released on Steam and via Perfect World’s platform Arc.
However, the release is by no means the end. The developers still have plenty of content in the pipeline and want to bring a new hero and further innovations every month. Just one month after the release, the new hero Oru was introduced to the game.
Gigantic is available for free as a Free2Play game. The official website can be found here:
Also interesting: Gigantic in the gameplay test
