Children of Tomorrow is a free-to-play adventure game that received poor reviews when it was released in 2016 and ended up struggling with the monetization model, which led to the PS platform shutting down its servers a year after its release. Now developer Q-Games has regained its IP and plans to relaunch the game in 2022.
In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Q-Games founder Dylan Cuthbert delved into the process of regaining the IP for Children of Tomorrow and his plans to re-release the game. Because Children of Tomorrow is funded and released by Sony as a second-party game, Sony owns the IP. After years of waiting, Hermen Hulst received a fitting message on the day he was promoted to head of playStation Studios and began the process of getting his IP back, followed by extended negotiations and contract signing times.
As a result, Cuthbert is now working on a standalone paid version of Children of Tomorrow, a game that Q-Games plans to release itself. Unlike the original release of Children of Tomorrow, the game will feature a peer-to-peer multiplayer model instead of a dedicated server. It will also strip off its monetization mechanism so that all content is available through in-game actions. Cuthbert believes that Children of Tomorrow will become stronger as a result, and it will balance in a healthy way without the need for a system that tries to "squeeze money out of players at every opportunity."
Cuthbert also sees this as a new beginning for Children of Tomorrow created by Q-Games. Now, the company owns the rights to Children of Tomorrow, and it could even make a sequel if needed. Cuthbert said he had planned to continue exploring the world and backstory of Children of Tomorrow, but that plan failed to materialize due to the game's early end to its real-time service structure. He might even make a sequel with a "slightly different style.".
But now, Q-Games and Cuper will be working on releasing a new version of Children of Tomorrow and seeing how it performs. The game is tentatively scheduled to be released on the PS platform in 2022, and Cuthbert hopes it will be available soon.