Today, the announcement of Homeworld 3 rocked longtime fans of the series. It has been nearly 16 years since the last proper release in the Homeworld franchise. While Deserts of Kharak certainly fit the narrative and was good, it was not the classic three-dimensional space combat of the original games. We’re finally going to get a proper sequel to one of the most enjoyable real-time strategies of the late 90s and early 2000s… eventually.
The announcement was somewhat underplayed with a modest video showing off some fighters moving through a strange alien junkyard with glowing orbs and entering some sort of warp gate. After that, what I assumed was Karan Sjet, the character that was the voice of Fleet Command in the original games, seemed to awaken. This was followed by an announcement that the game wasn’t anywhere near completion, but rather a crowdfunding campaign was going to kick off development.
The premise of the story for the new game seemingly hasn’t been fleshed out yet either. All that is available is:
“Homeworld 3 follows the events of Homeworld 2. The Hyperspace gates have opened, and with them, a new era of space travel has begun. The rest is yet to come…”
It’s not the most exciting thing to get people interested in backing the game. Of course, I question the need for crowdfunding. There is no funding goal. The game is being published by Gearbox so it’s inevitable that it will release. This only seems to be a method for generating glorified preorders (and investors) for the game when it’s still more than three full years from being released.
Generally, crowdfunding a project that is years away is justified by the idea that the creator needs the funding to make it possible. That isn’t the case here, so you’re locking your money in for three years minimum for… maybe a small discount? A few bonus digital items if you pay enough? A chance to play a mobile game that won’t be released for some time? The pride and accomplishment of spending money? I suppose with $55,000 in pledged money currently (with another $30k of investment pledges), it must have had some effect.
Still, knowing that one of my favorite franchises is going to have a new life makes me happy. I just can’t pretend I’m not a little disappointed the announcement had a little more information and a little less three-year preorder-ness.
