Little Big Adventure is one of the cult classics that fans have wanted to see remade for the new generation consoles, but it looks like the reboot won’t be coming anytime soon.
Studio 2.21 was set to develop a reboot for Little Big Adventure. The project was announced back in 2021 with the game being scheduled for release in 2024. However, 2.21 recently announced that the project has been canceled. The developer reportedly could not find a publisher for the upcoming reboot despite its best effort.
“Despite our earnest efforts,” CEO Ben Limare wrote in a blog post, “we were unsuccessful in securing a publisher for the reboot of Twinsen’s Little Big Adventure. Despite a passionate, albeit small, community of fans, Twinsen’s Little Big Adventure isn’t globally recognized, which added to the hesitations of potential publishers.”
He adds, “While indie game studios can often deliver remarkable games with lean teams (as we’ve seen with Death’s Door and Tunic), our vision for this project involved a team of 15 to 20 people, echoing the original game’s size. This considerable investment, juxtaposed with the risk inherent to the genre and IP, was a factor in the decision.”
Limare said that development on the project is now “halted” and the project is as good as canceled. The developers will try to “reincorporate the reboot’s ideas in the remaster, but that’s a conversation for another time.”
The studio will also be reducing its team’s size and is considering two options for the remaster of Little Big Adventure. The developer may opt to self-publish the remake or find a publisher willing to distribute the game. Limare revealed that it may try to work with another studio or opt to self-publish the title with help from Patreon. Fans are now asking the studio for a crowdfunding option like Kickstarter to finance the project.
Little Big Adventure was originally released on PC and PlayStation in 1994. The original version was developed by Adeline Software and published by Electronic Arts in Europe and Activision in North America. The game was a commercial success globally with over 500,000 units shipped but wasn’t very well received in the United States with just 30,000 copies sold.
The game was later ported to Android and iOS. An “Enhanced Edition” was developed by DotEmu and released alongside the original game on Steam. The source code for Little Big Adventure was released under General Public License in 2021.
