The Tomorrow Children was, unfortunately, a blip for many PlayStation gamers in 2016. The free-to-play adventure game mixed a variety of unique mechanics together in an odd USSR-inspired dystopia. The Tomorrow Children reviewed poorly at launch and ultimately struggled with monetization, leading to PlayStation shutting down its servers just a year after launch. Developer Q-Games has since regained the IP, however, and is now planning to relaunch The Tomorrow Children as a premium experience.
Speaking with GamesIndustry.biz, Q-Games founder Dylan Cuthbert delved into the process of regaining The Tomorrow Children IP and his plans to re-release the game. Since The Tomorrow Children was funded and published by Sony as a second-party title, it also owned the IP. It took years of waiting and an opportune message to Hermen Hulst the day he was promoted to head of PlayStation Studios to start the process, followed by another extended period for negotiations and the contract to be signed.
The result is that Cuthbert is now working on a standalone, premium version of The Tomorrow Children that Q-Games plans to release on its own. Unlike the original release of The Tomorrow Children, the game will feature peer-to-peer multiplayer rather than dedicated servers. It will also have its monetization stripped out so that all content is gained through in-game actions. Cuthbert believes The Tomorrow Children will be stronger as a result, balanced in a healthy way that doesn’t require a system trying to “squeeze a bit of money out of the player at every opportunity.”
Cuthbert also sees this as a new beginning for The Tomorrow Children beyond what Q-Games has already created. Now that the company owns the rights to The Tomorrow Children, it could even make a sequel if there’s a demand for it. Cuthbert says he had plans for exploring The Tomorrow Children‘s world and backstory that didn’t work out due to the game’s live service structure ending early. He may even make a sequel “that’s a slightly different style of game.”
For now, however, Q-Games and Cuthbert will be content to release this new version of The Tomorrow Children and see how it performs. The game is tentatively planned for 2022 on PlayStation platforms, with Cuthbert hoping to launch it sooner rather than later.
The Tomorrow Children‘s re-release will also be meaningful in a bigger way. Q-Games is an indie studio that regained its IP from PlayStation with plans to deconstruct its live service elements to put out what it believes to be is a better overall game. It’s a potential path for other studios to follow in the future. The more successful The Tomorrow Children is, the easier that path will be.
The Tomorrow Children will relaunch on PS4 and PS5 in 2022.
