The Bad King Kong Game Is Part of a ‘Vicious Cycle’ of Licensed Titles, Devs Say

When Skull Island: Rise of Kong was released earlier this week, we reported on the visceral social media reactions to its rudimentary gameplay, PS2-esque graphics, and left-fielded bugs with many calling it “the worst game of 2023.” The reason it’s received that dubious title, however, is apparently because the developers only had a year to work on King Kong’s latest video game outing.

Per a new report from the The Verge, developers at IguanaBee, an indie studio based in Santiago, Chile, said they were contracted by GameMill to create Skull Island from scratch within a strict one-year turnaround, with development starting last June and expected to be wrapped on June 2, 2023. One developer said the crunch to meet that deadline “was really set in motion in February.”

Those who spoke to the Verge under the condition of anonymity pointed to a “vicious cycle” of licensed games published by the company. Basically, although IguanaBee wants to work on original projects (like their well-received original game What Lies in the Multiverse), they’re beholden to companies like GameMill for funding, who want licensed titles… and then their portfolio is filled with licensed games, inadvervently making them a go-to for them.

“It’s a love/hate relationship because they are the ones who accept or give the projects and IguanaBee doesn’t have the means to develop almost anything on its own because well, money,” explained one developer.

Another IguanaBee developer, who did not work on Skull Island but has worked on other GameMill titles for the studio, delved into the conditions under which they frequently have to work when it comes to these licensed games.

“It was very common for us not to be provided with all the information about the project,” the dev said. “Which was quite frustrating when working because we had to improvise with the limited information we had on hand.”

They added, “I remember very well that they let go of a colleague who had been there longer than me. Deep down, I knew it was because the publisher didn’t provide them with enough funding to maintain a certain number of people for an extended period.”

GameMill has not yet responded to IGN’s request for comment.

Most games, whether they’re based on a licensed IP or not, take more than a year for studios to develop to give players the best gameplay experience and highest quality possible. That’s why game delays are not terribly uncommon, even if they’re bemoaned by fans in the moment.

We gave Skull Island a 4 in our review, saying it “makes no meaningful attempts to do anything new or clever, with mindless combat and pointless platforming that make it feel like a worse version of every action game from the last 20 years.”

Cristina Alexander is a freelance writer for IGN. To paraphrase Calvin Harris, she wears her love for Sonic the Hedgehog on her sleeve like a big deal. Follow her on Twitter @SonicPrincess15.