Player feedback has led to the canning of what was to be the next Command & Conquer game. In a statement on the official Command & Conquer website, Victory Studios outlined the reasons:

Part of being in a creative team is the understanding that not all of your choices are going to work out. In this case, we shifted the game away from campaign mode and built an economy-based, multiplayer experience. Your feedback from the alpha trial is clear: We are not making the game you want to play. That is why, after much difficult deliberation, we have decided to cease production of this version of the game. Although we deeply respect the great work done by our talented team, ultimately it’s about getting you the game you expect and deserve.

That bit in bold is rather important, as it seems to indicate that while this particular Command & Conquer game is no more, it will resurface at some point with hopefully different mechanics. The criticisms levelled at the new game stemmed from the fact that it used the free-to-play model, rather than the traditional sold-on-dvd model, a move that many gamers don’t appreciate.

Fans of the Command & Conquer series have had it rough of late. The previous C&C game, C&C 4, completely changed the gameplay dynamic away from the traditional build a base and attack the enemy using rock-paper-scissors strategy. That didn’t go down so well with fans, and the series has been struggling ever since.

The funny thing is, this new Command & Conquer game – the spiritual successor to the very well-received Command & Conquer: Generals – was apparently looking really good. It used the Frostbite 3 engine, the same one used to make Battlefield 3, and according to a preview on PC Gamer by Craig Pearson, “During the short time I got my hands on it, it really did feel like it contained the DNA of all the other C&C games.” That’s never a bad thing, and exactly what fans of the series would appreciate. Clearly, whatever was being done with the alpha simply did not match up to the majority of the participating gamers’ expectations and hopes.

Command & Conquer was slated to be released in December 2013, with pay-to-play single-player campaigns launching shortly afterwards, but that won’t be happening now. Polygon has reported that Victory Studios has also been closed in the wake of the cancellation.

All we’re left with now is a bit of hope that someday in the near-ish future, EA will nail the Command & Conquer formula and deliver a new game worthy of the venerable series’ long and storied history.

My take: Give us more cheesy full-motion video cutscenes between missions, focus on making the single-player game a polished, fun experience with new units and super-weapons and a silly but fun over-arching story (maybe a Red Alert/Tiberium Sun crossover?), and balance everything so well that multiplayer matches are a battle of skills and wits, and forget all about pay-to-play.

If you have any thoughts on what would make for a Command & Conquer game worth playing, as always you’re welcome to share them in the comments.