In the late 90s, Activision wasn’t the powerhouse it is now. Bobby Kotick’s baby was on unsteady ground; the company wasn’t sure just how successful the console industry would truly be, and having seen success in PC gaming and bought up big-name licences left, right and centre, it looked on at the burgeoning PlayStation and struggling Saturn with concern. In the midst of all this, Kotick and Activision had the Apocalypse project – already three years in development – and it was stuck in a rut.
Apocalypse was a third person action game which took advantage of the new analogue control system for PlayStation, and featured a star turn from none other than Bruce Willis. Looking back now, the platforming aspects were a litte hit and miss and the voice work – already captured before Neversoft came onboard – was weak and lacked impact.
“The vision for [Apocalypse] was for it to be a ‘buddy game’, where you would play and Bruce Willis would be your AI partner,” says Aaron Cammarata, a level designer on Apocalypse. “There was the possibility of couch co-op, but apparently the team was concerned everyone would just want to play as Bruce Willis, not as his friend”. He has a point. However, a second problem soon arose; “The team was having a hard time getting the AI and buddy system to play well, and for the AI to respond in an intelligent way”. This was all happening within Activision, and the company decided it didn’t want to invest in the area any longer. It began looking for external partners to work with, and just down the highway was Neversoft.
Source: Eurogamer How a troubled game starring Bruce Willis led to the skateboarding revolution