Originally posted by High Max
I think it is a mistake for them not to make another one. They should notice this community and re-think their decision. Volition was sold but the company still exists? I heard that part of the problem was FS2 didn't get many sells because of Volition's lack of advertising the game.
Also, did an FS3 ever get to even a planning stage and they stopped there or did it even reach the planning stage? Was there any plans created of what the storyline was supposed to be or did those details never even get created? If the game never reached planning stage then the story of an FS3 was never written by Volition.
Volition wasn't 'sold' by Interplay, it was an independent developer contracted to them which was eventually bought over by THQ (so THQ holds the pursestrings).
Interplay were publishers of FS2 and responsible for advertising; they opted to cut back on advertising FS2 as they were releasing a 'competing' Star-Trek franchised game - quite why they didn't just delay one of the 2 or something i'll never know. Either way, I think daveb in particular is still pissed off at that.
Interplay also still own the license; for Volition to make an FS game they'd need to convince THQ to buy the license and fund development. A hard sell given the poor sales of FS2 and the age of the license.
It's possible another party may buy the Freespace license; I'm sure we all remember the Derek Smart pallaver. But it's probably unlikely that it'd be a genuine quality developer for the same reasons THQ probably won't buy. In either case the sequel would probably be about as canonically valid as a fan campaign.
Volition do have an FS story bible which'd go towards defining the story arc (including any unmade sequels). It's never been made clear AFAIK exactly how detailed it is and whether stuff was specifically marked out for FS3, but they would have an idea of the continuing storyline.
The Volition staff do want to make a sequel, I believe daveb said as much, but they're not desperate. They're certainly not going to throw a hissy fit to try and make THQ stump up the cash, and it's quite possible they're happier with the stuff they're making now (dodgy FPS').
At one point it was, IIRC, rumoured that Outrage would be making FS3. AFAIK that was never confirmed.
