Upcoming asymmetrical multiplayer horror game The Flock will have an intriguing twist: the game will no longer be sold and its servers will go offline for good once its initial players population has died off.
"We always had this story that the Flock are a tragic race that is doomed to extinction," said Vogelsap creative director Jeroen van Hasselt. "During development we had several ideas about how to convey that story into multiplayer. It was only when we tried to come up with a solution for a multiplayer games' often anticlimactic ending that both ideas clicked."
The Flock matches are played by 3 to 5 players. At the start of each match, the players compete to grab a "MacGuffin" to become the "Carrier." The carrier is then hunted by the rest of the players while he tries to accomplish a series of objectives.
The game's title screen always displays the current population size. When the game ships, the population size is set to a specific value which ticks down every time a player dies. When the population size reaches zero, the game will pulled off Steam and only existing players will be able to participate in the yet-to-be-determined finale event.
After that, the game will shut down forever.
Obviously, this strategy is not the best way to maximize the game's profits as it puts a hard limit on the number of units that can be sold. "We're all about creating an authentic experience that players have a chance to be a part of. It's not about getting the best business deal," confirmed Hasselt.
"If we implement any other plans they must be in the interest of every player and the experience we want to achieve," argued the creative director. "We're here to create a different take on asymmetrical multiplayer and a different take on the whole multiplayer genre."
The Flock is currently in closed alpha and it is expected to launch before the end of the year.
