Remember the Delta Force games? It’s okay if you don’t: It was a reasonably popular shooter series that debuted in the late 1990s, but the last addition to the lineup, Delta Force: Xtreme 2, came out back in 2009, and wasn’t very good. The last we heard from it was in 2016, when THQ Nordic picked up developer NovaLogic and all its games. Seven years later, Delta Force is finally making a comeback, with a brand-new game being developed by Tencent subsidiary TiMi Studio Group.
The new game will feature a singleplayer campaign based on the movie Black Hawk Down, producer Shadow Guo told IGN, but it will also feature “large-scale multiplayer PvP,” a central component of the original game.
“Our game designers chose to build an immersive multiplayer battleground that could accommodate even larger-scale PVP than the previous 32-player limit,” Guo said. “To create a grand atmosphere of combat on ground, sea, and air, we designed a variety of methods for engagement and maps that integrate diverse terrain features such as vertical height differences and caves, as well as different vehicle routes.
“We also created unique, technologically advanced vehicles that players can use in the game, including assault vehicles, helicopters, armored vehicles, attack boats, terrain vehicles, jeeps, pickups, fighter jets, and drones. These vehicles add to the gameplay experience of large-scale PVP.”
I can’t help wondering, with all due respect, why TiMi Studio has chosen to resurrect this particular military shooter. Not that there’s anything in particular wrong with Delta Force, it just doesn’t strike me as especially laden with the power of brand recognition, and that 40% Metacritic score for the most recent game in the series isn’t the sort of thing that’s likely to inspire great interest among potential new fans of the series. The timing of the reveal is also interesting, given that Activision just flipped the switch on the marketing machine for a new Call of Duty.
It also wasn’t initially clear why a Tencent studio is handling this reboot, rather than a THQ Nordic outfit, but a rep confirmed that TiMi Studio Group has purchased the Delta Force franchise from THQ, and now owns the rights to the old games and any future releases.
The new Delta Force will be fully revealed during Gamescom’s Opening Night Live event, which gets underway at 11 am PT/2 pm ET on August 23.