PlayStation (YouTube)

In an email to Kotaku, a Blue Box Game Studios spokesperson said everyone at the developer is “working everyday on the game and the Prologue,” the playable demo that’s supposed to fund Abandoned’s full development since neither “the publisher [Sony] nor any other party” is helping the studio financially.

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“We are ambitious and take this seriously,” the spokesperson said. “Ever since Abandoned was announced we’ve had a false start. We just want to have the same opportunity as other developers to work on it peacefully.”

When pressed about the Prologue, the spokesperson said they couldn’t “provide a release date for now” but confirmed that it is in development.

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“The reason is the game is not finished and therefore not passed the certification process for it to be released,” the spokesperson said, “Until that stage, we will not announce anything and go dark. We want our first media to represent the game for what it is at launch with the Prologue. We don’t want to be forced to ‘prove’ it’s in development despite the tweets and Twitter poll. We understand why people are questioning it. But it is just a matter of time.”

The Blue Box Game Studios spokesperson also said no one was “active on Discord” and that the group GameSpot referenced was actually a PlayStation party chat with the sole purpose of “playing games” together.

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“This was supposed to be a one-time thing but the fans insisted to keep the group there,” the spokesperson said. “The group was never meant to showcase Abandoned, everyone attended on their own choice. People were always treated with the upmost [sic] respect. Hasan never forced anyone to play games with him, and based on the chats shown, he always asked members.”

The spokesperson disputed the “romantic” relationship claims against Kahraman, saying the archived messages were “more of a friendly chat.”

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“The group ended in early April when one of the fans raged out of the group as they where told at some point to show a slice of the game,” the spokesperson said. “As a result of one of the members informing Hasan of that another member’s intention was to leak the slice, this demonstration never took place and Hasan stated this clearly. That is when the group started to end. Some angry members then reached out to GameSpot.”

Still, none of this answers the real question: What the hell is going on? It’s been about a year since Abandoned was revealed and there’s been absolutely nothing to show for it. Not a new trailer or additional screenshots or anything. So if Blue Box Game Studios wants to silence nonbelievers, it should really consider peeling back the Abandoned curtain a little bit or just admit to everyone here and now that Abandoned has been…abandoned.

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Kotaku has reached out to Sony for comment.