Silicon Knights Made King’s Quest Prototype, Never Finished Horror Game The Ritualyst

By Spencer . December 28, 2011 . 4:08pm

Siliconera obtained court documents from the Silicon Knights vs. Epic Games lawsuit, which revealed some of the Canadian developer’s plans. Back in 2005, Sega announced a partnership with Too Human developer Silicon Knights to create a new game.

"We intend to establish SEGA as a leading publisher on the next generation of game hardware and only the highest possible quality of Western-developed content will get us there," said Simon Jeffery, president and COO, SEGA of America. "Silicon Knights has a rich history of developing great games that push hardware technology, so we expect this relationship will result in a powerful, new, and highly commercial franchise."

That game was The Ritualyst. Silicon Knights and Sega signed a publishing agreement to produce the game, but Sega dropped the title and sold the rights to THQ. THQ finally canceled the project in 2009 when, according to the court documents, THQ ran out of money for reasons unrelated to The Rityalyst. The game was never completed, but if it had it would have sold 2.8 million units according to financial analyst Terry Lloyd.

Lloyd also forecasted 2.5 million units of Too Human if the game had been released in August 2007. Too Human II, originally planned for release in 2008, had 2.5 million units of projected sales and Too Human III, slated for 2009 or 2010, would have sold 2.4 million.

Court documents also reveal negotiations with Vivendi Games (now a subsidiary of Activision), Capcom, and Namco. Two projects on the table were Sandman and King’s Quest. Silicon Knights say they developed a prototype for King’s Quest.