Now that we are nearing the dawn of Darksiders II, questions surrounding the fate of the franchise have once again surfaced. THQ boss Jason Rubin has previously announced his ambivalence towards making this a trilogy, but Vigil Games themselves seem to believe that success will ensure a second sequel.
In an interview with VideoGamer, Haydn Dalton, the lead designer of Darksiders II, suggested that it is rather unlikely that THQ would move them (Vigil Games) over to another franchise if their soon to be released sequel sells:
“If Jason’s [Rubin, President, THQ] sat there and we go and sell 4 or 5 million units, I’m pretty sure he won’t say, ‘Let’s go and do something different now’. Maybe what he might do is turn around and say, ‘We’ll do another Darksiders game, but we’ll try and reduce the scope so that we can make it even higher polished’. Because our scope is huge. Maybe he says, ‘Bring the scope down a little bit, we’ll still do another game but it’s a lot more focused’. That’s not such a bad thing to do either.”
Cash cows don’t often get sacrificed in this industry, and so the logic behind this statement is sound. However, it is important to realise that selling 4 or 5 million units is quite the feat for any franchise.
Dalton also makes it clear that Vigil Games would consider cutting down the scope of the series in order to make the third game more polished and detailed. Concentrating your efforts on a smaller world can yield incredibly results, but with their upcoming release heralding its larger scope as one of its main selling points, it is rather interesting to see this concession made quite so readily.
Regardless, the fate of the Horsemen will ultimately rest in our hands. Whether or not a trilogy is even warranted will only be revealed when Darksiders II releases on August 14, and we will no doubt have to wait some time after that to find out if it gets one. Â
