TRS just low-key hinted at Back 4 Blood 2

[Hollowed Antagonist]

I'm just gonna start a new thread since the other one is just about B4B receiving no more content updates but I think the clear hints and details in this text are much more interesting.

Anyway, Turtle Rock Studios just posted this on their website:

Greetings, Cleaners!

What an amazing year 2022 was for us. First off, we wanted to thank all of you for making Back 4 Blood what it is today. With three expansions – Tunnels of Terror, Children of the Worm, and River of Blood – we’ve traveled on a fantastic adventure together beyond the walls of Fort Hope. This phase of our war against the Ridden now comes to a close.

Turtle Rock Studios is actually pretty small for a studio making AAA games. We don’t have quite enough folks to continue working on Back 4 Blood content while we spin up another game – yes, another game! Given this, it’s time for us to put our heads down, get back in the lab, and get to work on the next big thing.

Intrepid Cleaners, this is not a goodbye.

Back 4 Blood will continue to operate, of course. In fact, Back 4 Blood is currently offered on PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium tiers and available as part of Xbox Game Pass. You’ll also still find us hanging out in the SUBREDDIT and on DISCORD, as well as our official TWITTER, INSTAGRAM, FACEBOOK and WEBSITE because we love interacting with you and talking about our games.

While we may be a bit quieter in the short-term, we promise that we’ll be Back, bigger, bolder and better than ever!

With much love and gratitude,
Turtle Rock Studios

https://turtlerockstudios.com/news/b4b-2223

Why would you write "back" with a capital B otherwise while also clearly stating only this phase of the war against the Ridden is over. So dry your tears, fellow cleaners.

Anyway, the game may have known a rocky start and some bumps along the road but I think it turned out more than fine in the end, to me B4B is the best co-op zombie shooter ever made and I can't wait to see what TRS has cooking for us next. We'll be back for blood, that's for certain.

And if any TRS developer still visits these forums and reads this: Thank you, it was an amazing game.

[OfficerGoose]

so, no more bug fixing? there are too many...

[Hollowed Antagonist]

Originally posted by BusinessGoose:

so, no more bug fixing? there are too many...

They probably will since they are just referring to new content like modes, cleaners, cleaner skins, enemy types, levels and etc. so I wouldn't be worried yet. They'll probably keep a skeleton crew just for fixing stuff like bugs and all like most developers do for games like this.

[A Real Hero (We/Ours)]

Originally posted by Hollowed Antagonist:

I'm just gonna start a new thread since the other one is just about B4B receiving no more content updates but I think the clear hints and details in this text are much more interesting.

Anyway, Turtle Rock Studios just posted this on their website:

Greetings, Cleaners!

What an amazing year 2022 was for us. First off, we wanted to thank all of you for making Back 4 Blood what it is today. With three expansions – Tunnels of Terror, Children of the Worm, and River of Blood – we’ve traveled on a fantastic adventure together beyond the walls of Fort Hope. This phase of our war against the Ridden now comes to a close.

Turtle Rock Studios is actually pretty small for a studio making AAA games. We don’t have quite enough folks to continue working on Back 4 Blood content while we spin up another game – yes, another game! Given this, it’s time for us to put our heads down, get back in the lab, and get to work on the next big thing.

Intrepid Cleaners, this is not a goodbye.

Back 4 Blood will continue to operate, of course. In fact, Back 4 Blood is currently offered on PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium tiers and available as part of Xbox Game Pass. You’ll also still find us hanging out in the SUBREDDIT and on DISCORD, as well as our official TWITTER, INSTAGRAM, FACEBOOK and WEBSITE because we love interacting with you and talking about our games.

While we may be a bit quieter in the short-term, we promise that we’ll be Back, bigger, bolder and better than ever!

With much love and gratitude,
Turtle Rock Studios

https://turtlerockstudios.com/news/b4b-2223

Why would you write "back" with a capital B otherwise while also clearly stating only this phase of the war against the Ridden is over. So dry your tears, fellow cleaners.

Anyway, the game may have known a rocky start and some bumps along the road but I think it turned out more than fine in the end, to me B4B is the best co-op zombie shooter ever made and I can't wait to see what TRS has cooking for us next. We'll be back for blood, that's for certain.

And if any TRS developer still visits these forums and reads this: Thank you, it was an amazing game.

And do you find a new installment of the same game exciting or even remotely acceptable?

[Icewind Dale Wilson]

Can't say I'm super excited, given the first game only lasted a year.

[Hollowed Antagonist]

Originally posted by A Real Hero:

And do you find a new installment of the same game exciting or even remotely acceptable?

Yes, I do think it is exciting because a new entry for the franchise also means a fresh start. With B4B they will never retain their initial userbase from launch or even something remotely similar. With a new game, and I assume and expect this will also include B4B's campaign, they will have a fresh start with the franchise.

The current playerbase also isn't substainable anymore, do you really want them to create content for this fairly small group of people for the next couple of years when they can also focus all their time and money on a new, even better sequel with all the knowledge and lessons learned from the first game?

[Anachronomalous]

Originally posted by Hollowed Antagonist:

Yes, I do think it is exciting because a new entry for the franchise also means a fresh start. With B4B they will never retain their initial userbase from launch or even something remotely similar. With a new game, and I assume and expect this will also include B4B's campaign, they will have a fresh start with the franchise.

Does it really mean that, though? I personally really enjoy the game, but if they've mis-stepped from the beginning and burned a lot of goodwill, why would anyone reasonably expect part 2 to be the real one that gets butts in seats?

Originally posted by Hollowed Antagonist:

The current playerbase also isn't substainable anymore, do you really want them to create content for this fairly small group of people for the next couple of years when they can also focus all their time and money on a new, even better sequel with all the knowledge and lessons learned from the first game?

Or they could not focus on content and just hone whatever they currently have. The game in its current state is fun and has a lot going for it, but it's in dire need of balancing changes.

If giving up *hurk* "content" is something that can be done in exchange for prolonging the life of the game via balancing updates and tweaks, I'm all for it.

[Hollowed Antagonist]

Originally posted by ✾ Rook ✾:

Does it really mean that, though? I personally really enjoy the game, but if they've mis-stepped from the beginning and burned a lot of goodwill, why would anyone reasonably expect part 2 to be the real one that gets butts in seats?

Because it happens all the time in this industry. I can think of countless games and franchises where the developer messed up and still managed to turn everything around (either with patching existing games or introducing new, solid entries). And in B4B's case I don't even think they have really messed up, clearly they did in the beginning but imo they managed to turn it all around and develived a really solid game in the end with lots and lots of replayability. But still, you have so many people who want the next best thing in terms of graphics and gore and B4B can't deliver on that. And look at the player counts after all the content drops, that just isn't substainable for years to come. In the end TRS are still in this business for the money which they also need for bigger, better and newer projects.

It's just weird to me so many people just expect TRS to keep producing DLC after DLC when its playerbase is getting smaller and smaller. TRS doesn't just produce acts like 5 and 6 out of nothing, a lot of work and manpower went into those (not saying like you don't understand because you clearly do but it seems so many on here can't really grasp how much effort it takes).

Or they could not focus on content and just hone whatever they currently have. The game in its current state is fun and has a lot going for it, but it's in dire need of balancing changes.

If giving up *hurk* "content" is something that can be done in exchange for prolonging the life of the game via balancing updates and tweaks, I'm all for it.

Oh yes, agreed, I'm assuming they will keep a skeleton crew for potential bug fixes, balancing and other (minor) tweaks, it'd be crazy if they don't.

[Bullied by Pigeon]

Short term = another 6 years..