United Front Games “would love” to make a sequel to its 2012 open-world crime drama Sleeping Dogs, the studio says. However, this isn’t likely to happen anytime soon, as the company’s current focus is on free-to-play PC game Triad Wars, which it officially unveiled yesterday.
“Right now we are totally focused on making Triad Wars as awesome as it could be,” producer Justin Bullard said during a recent Reddit AMA. “But [we] would love to continue making games in the Sleeping Dogs universe.” Asked directly if fans would ever see a true sequel to Sleeping Dogs, which was set in Hong Kong, Bullard added, “Nothing to share on that right now, but we will take every opportunity to explore this universe.”
Sleeping Dogs was originally called True Crime: Hong Kong and was going to be published by Activision until the Call of Duty company dropped it in February 2011. Japanese Final Fantasy publisher Square Enix later acquired the franchise from Activision, rebranding it Sleeping Dogs. Though Square Enix has not announced a sales figure for the game, Sleeping Dogs was profitable for the publisher.
The game will see a second life in October when the Sleeping Dogs Definitive Edition is released for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. This version features better graphics than the original (1080p visuals on Xbox One and PS4), as well as 24 DLC packs.
Next up for United Front Games is Triad Wars, which is also set in Hong Kong, but not in the same universe as Sleeping Dogs. The game is currently confirmed for PC only, but the developer is optimistic that Triad Wars could someday be released on more platforms, potentially consoles like the Xbox One and PS4.
“Our hope is to get this game on everything,” Bullard said. “We’ve spent a lot of time upgrading the engine and making tech improvements to ensure we are able to get it running on any platform. So while it’s PC for now…stay tuned. We are starting out on PC but we may not stay there forever.”
Also during the Reddit AMA, fans asked why United Front Games chose to make Triad Wars a free-to-play title. Bullard said this model fits the game “perfectly,” going on to say that if United Front Games has done its job right, you won’t ever have to pay to have fun.
“How we monetize is something we’ll be testing and tuning based on what we learn in our beta tests,” he said. “Our guiding principle is that you shouldn’t ever have to pay in order to enjoy the game.
“We think this model fits Triad Wars perfectly,” he added. “It wouldn’t fit every game we make here at UFG, but Triad Wars offers a great mix of open world action, RPG mechanics, and strategic gameplay that line up well with the Free to Play model.”
Triad Wars is scheduled to launch in early 2015. You can sign up for the game’s closed beta today.
Eddie Makuch is a news editor at GameSpot, and you can follow him on Twitter @EddieMakuch
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