Sega: No Alpha Protocol Sequel

After a mixed critical reception, there won't be a sequel to Obsidian's Alpha Protocol, publisher Sega says, adding that the game's sales did not meet expectations. "Let's speak very commercially; the game hasn't sold what we've expected, therefore we won't be doing a sequel," Sega West president Mike Hayes told website C&VG of the game, which received some positive commentary on its concept but little on its execution, garnering altogether Metacritic scores of 63, 65 and 73 for its Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC versions respectively. Alpha Protocol, billed as an "espionage RPG", was long anticipated, first announced in March 2008 and originally planned for a fall 2009 release. Ultimately the game launched in June 2010. Despite the disappointing performance, Sega's Hayes praised the idea behind the game and suggested Obsidian was also tackling an especially difficult genre: "The concept was brilliant, though," he said. "You know this whole thing with Metacritic where you have to be in the high 70s to mid-80s minimum [to have any success] - well, with RPGs you have got to be in the late 80s." Simply "good" isn't good enough for "that upper echelon," Hayes suggested, and it'd be too pricey to try again: "Again, the amount you need to invest to get there is so large because RPGs are naturally big projects," he said. "We've decided we won't do a sequel."