Mythical action game For Honor hasn’t enjoyed the easiest spell in development.
As Creative Director Jason VandenBerghe revealed to GameSpot, the budding new IP was initially hatched more than a decade ago but, due to a lack of interest from studios, was essentially placed on ice by VandenBerghe.
A chance meeting with Ubisoft changed all of that, though, and For Honor is now barrelling down on its February 2017 due date. Focusing on three warring factions – the Vikings, the Knights, and the Samurai – Ubi’s hack-and-slash title also incorporates multiplayer features, and will always hold a place in VandenBerghe’s heart as his “bucket-list game.”
Indeed, For Honor struggled to get going from the outset, with the developer revealing that “it’s going to be 14 years by the time we ship it. I can’t believe that, but it’s true.”
Because people said no…I then started pitching the game to anyone who would listen. The answer was no, no, no, no, we don’t make that kind of game, no, that would never work, no, no. Until I pitched it to Yannis Mallat, who is the GM of Ubisoft Montreal, and he said, ‘No, but I have somebody I want you to meet.’ And he introduced me to Stephane Cardain, the producer, and his team. And I pitched it to them. They said yes. And now five years later, we’re here and we’re making it. This is it. This is my bucket-list game.
For Honor will launch across PS4, Xbox One and PC on February 14, 2017. Elsewhere in the Ubisoft portfolio, extreme sports IP Steep recently zeroed in on an early December release date.