When Paradox acquired the right to Majesty, I was skeptical. But it looks like there will be a Majesty 2.
From the PR announcement:
Majesty 2 – The Fantasy Kingdom Sim will focus on reinventing many aspects of the original game, updating the franchise for the 21st Century. A key element that will permeate the game is the charm and humor of the original Majesty.
“This is by far the biggest release from Paradox to date and it is sure to become one of the most anticipated titles of 2009”, said Fredrik Wester, Executive Vice President for Paradox Interactive. “Our aim is to release a fantastic game that not only encourages existing fans to renew their passion for the series, but also to reach out to the broader gaming community that has grown so much since the original was released”, he continued.
“It’s the height of any developers dream to work with such a cherished Triple A franchise with so many fans worldwide and such a unique position in the gaming industry”, said Alexey Kozyrev, CEO 1C:Ino-Co. “As a team we have reached the level of skills and acknowledgement in the international arena to be worthy of such a task.”
It’s a little late, and it’s in the hands of 1C, a company with a very patchy record. Fantasy Wars seems to have been well regarded by many people, though.
Still, a lot of people have been looking forward to this. Good luck.
I’m a big fan of Majesty, I finished the game, and also finished the expansion. I’m not really a fan of real time strategy, but this game took away the micro management that I dislike. It was also very funny, some of the units responses were great.
I’m not familar with 1C, so I checked them out on wikipedia. As you say, they do have a patchy record, but not a disasterous one.
Hopefully this title doesn’t get ruined like the Heroes of Might and Magic series. I played Heroes of Might & Magic 1 through 4, but I gave up on the latest installment.
Fantasy Wars is a very solid and fun strategy game, so if Ino-co’s on the job there’s hope that Majesty 2 won’t suck.
Ya know, I really enjoyed majesty. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a fairly relaxing and enjoyable game to fill a few hours here and there when you didn’t feel like playing more ‘serious’ games.
My only real complaint with it was that there was no map editor – had Majesty have had a powerful tool to allow users to create custom scenarios (which could be shared, of course) I’d probably still be playing it now, here and there.
Looking forward to Majesty 2.