Transverse could have been Wing Commander Online – Gamer doubts begin

Earlier this evening Piranha Games revealed Transverse and it’s not going down well.

Gamers appear not to be embracing the new crowd funded project from Piranha Games which was revealed as Transverse, an online, open-universe space exploration and combat title that would be taking on the likes of Star Citizen and Elite Dangerous in the space adventuring space.

Since the game was revealed,  the Piranha Games team has been kept rather busy on their forums as comments started to flood in from sceptical gamers and disgruntled Mech Warrior Online players/backers.

The most interesting discovery was that the game could have actually turned out to be Wing Commander Online. According to a member of Cloud Imperium, the studio behind Star Citizen, EA had offered Piranha the license. CIG’s Ben Lesnick commented:

“It’s a real project. We were worried it was going to be Wing Commander: Online – EA offered them the license at one point”

Now that Transverse has been announced, we have to assume that EA thought better of entering the space sim arena now that Star Citizen has raised so much cash and Elite Dangerous is looking very solid.

Fans of the Wing Commander series sound relieved that Piranha is not going to have the opportunity to revive Wing Commander . The way in which Mech Warrior Online has been handled by Piranha has not been stellar.

Star Citizen backers have also been quick to investigate what’s on offer and there has been quite a few comments from the Start Citizen community over the ship designs which  look similar to what we see in Star Citizen. Perhaps that was to be expected.

https://twitter.com/IqfishLP/status/509459965581742080

https://twitter.com/IqfishLP/status/509459439536332800

Since the funding launched this evening, which was around 8 hours ago, there’s been a total of 28 pledges and the message to wait and see what happens appears to have sunk in. There’s a thread in the Transverse forums which is filled with comments from gamers not willing to part with cash.

With Transverse not being Kickstarted and funds being gathered directly, there’s no protection for backers and the funding goals set out by Piranha are almost absurd. So much so they appear to have changed their funding page. In case you missed the funding goals, they were as follows:

• $1,000,000 – Space Flight
• $1.5 million – Customise your ship
• $2.0 million – Space combat

We’re a little perplexed why it would take an additional $1 million to shoot your lasers. What if they don’t reach $2 million? Does that mean you won’t be able to shoot? The whole campaign is bizarre and for that reason alone do not back this until there is more concrete information, gameplay, or you are completely sure you want to play this.

Not backing the game scuppers Piranha’s plans, but I think there are enough reasons to be slightly concerned about the project especially at this early stage.

Piranha Games may surprise us, but based on what’s gone before, just be wary.

Update: Piranha shadow banned on Reddit as Transverse fallout continues.