The Announcement[]
Ever since 2009, ClayFighter: Call of Putty was generally assumed to be canceled, but on 2/28/15, Interplay announced a new ClayFighter title, though no real name was given to it. However, there was a list that they gave out.
-Characters such as Bad Mr. Frosty, Blue Suede Goo, Earthworm Jim, Hoppy, Boogerman, Tiny – and more with over 20 characters total.
-Over 20 familiar environments from the series to duke it out in.
-Brand new gameplay introducing new mechanics to the series, such as double jumping, air dashing, counters and reversals.
-Unique supers and “claytality’ moves for each character.
EXCLUSIVE TRAILER - Legends Never Die...
The official trailer for the project. It was meant to be revealed before the official announcement, but this never came to pass. It should also be noted that it was an ordeal to post this onto the Interplay Youtube channel at all.
Cancellation[]
On January 19th, 2016, a former staff member of Interplay who worked as a background artist came out to reveal that work on the project had likely ceased. While the following details may come off as "too juicy" to be believed, enclosed photos that included never-before-seen sprites of Hobocop, and unused spritework of other characters, gives the lead legitimacy.
They go on to explain that this project was not a "remake" as Herve proposed, but a "trilogy mashing" project that would've put all three installments together. It was also supposed to fix the bugs of the previous titles, and add all the cut/unused content.
However, Herve proved to be a "constant roadblock", never abiding to the contract to give the team the assets, assistance, and/or hypothetical royalties they needed, as well as taking control away from them little by little, and only demanding builds every few weeks. Herve also refused to promote the trailer made by the team, and refused their idea of an update blog in favor of a website that "collects email addresses". With all of these factors, most of the team (except for one or two members) jumped ship by Autumn 2015, this former member included.
It's also revealed that Call of Putty fell through for the same reasons as this project did, and also explains why Call of Putty's "cancellation" is something that's never been officially stated - Herve doesn't acknowledge when a project has failed.
Their identity has not been revealed, nor do they want to disclose themself.
Selling of the IP[]
Furthermore, on September 7th, 2016, Globe News Wire has published an article detailing a portfolio of IPs from Interplay, that are now up for sale. The portfolio is being sold under a strict bundle-only deal, and thus potential buyers cannot pick certain IPs.
The list includes:
- Battle Chess
- Boogerman
- ClayFighter
- Dark Alliance
- Descent
- Earthworm Jim
- Freespace
- Kingpin
- M.A.X.
- Messiah
- MDK
- Redneck Rampage
- Run Like Hell
- Sacrifice
- T-Rex Rumble
- Giants
Since the article's release, no one has officially claimed the ClayFighter franchise.
