A new video recently uncovered what happened to Xbox’s Project Ranger, a title said to be similar to the Uncharted games.
What if Xbox had its own Uncharted-like exclusive game? A new video recently uncovered what happened to Xbox’s Project Ranger, a title said to be similar to the Uncharted games. For those who do not remember, Project Ranger was teased in a 30-second trailer during Xbox’s E3 2013 press conference as an Xbox One exclusive. Then, nothing was seen about it again. But was it worth releasing it, and what happened to its production? DidYouKnowGaming has the answer.
Originally, Xbox’s Project Ranger was under Black Tusk Studios’ banner. This studio was later renamed to The Coalition, a Canadian game developer based in Vancouver, British Columbia. At the time, Microsoft formed the studio to take over the Gears of War franchise, which the studio continues to work on today. DidYouKnowGaming’s video revealed Project Ranger was supposed to be Xbox’s answer to Sony’s Uncharted series. “In short, the idea for this game was Uncharted with Spies,” says researcher Liam Robertson. “An action-packed third-person shooter where the player controlled secret agents on high-octane espionage missions in various cities around the world.”
The 48-minute YouTube video delved in-depth, discussing Project Ranger’s pre-production beginnings as early as 2012. Robertson talked about how the game was inspired by the Mission Impossible movies. The game would feature a single male protagonist, who would use Bond-style gadgets to distract enemies and hack scenery. It was like Ethan Hunt meets 007. The video also covered how the game would have Kinect functionality, with players able to change their primary weapon’s fire mode or ask for tips from their handler by speaking to the sensor. To be fair, the Kinect was an okay feature, but it never pushed the boundaries of the commonly played games.
The 2013 E3 teaser showcased that Project Ranger was developed using Unreal Engine and was reportedly based on a Shanghai mission planned for the game. Ultimately, players would have to infiltrate an office building occupied by terrorists. Sadly, the game’s development was scrapped after Microsoft saw an opportunity to revive Gears of War following its acquisition of the IP from Epic Games. With Black Tusk tasked to work on Gears of War, Project Ranger was shelved indefinitely. Apparently, the decision to abandon Project Ranger was swift, as the final decision was made in early 2014. This was around the same time the studio was renamed to The Coalition.
On paper, this could have been a cool title. The action-adventure genre tends to hit with players a lot. This was seen when the newer Tomb Raider games came out, and ended up rivalling the Uncharted series in its own way. Funnily enough, the Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics’ Tomb Raider came out in 2013. So, maybe a third contender would have been overshadowed by a bigger IP like Tomb Raider. Still, I would have loved to see how the Kinect features would work.
