Omikron: The Nomad Soul, that’s why it was canceled on PlayStation

During our visit to the studios of Quantic Dreamthe French development team explained to Multiplayer.it why the PlayStation version from Omikron: The Nomad Soul (known in Europe simply as The Nomad Soul) was canceled in early 2000, just a few months after its release.

“The decision to cancel the PlayStation version of Omikron: The Nomad Soul was from the publisher Eidos,” he explains Ronan Marchalot, rendering director of Quantic Dream. “According to them the exit [della versione PlayStation] it was too close to the arrival of the PlayStation 2, so it was no longer worth releasing a game for the first PlayStation. The reasons for the cancellation were therefore only commercial, it was not a question of technical limitations “.

The first game ever made by Quantic Dream, Omikron: The Nomad Soul is now considered a cult adventure, largely remembered for the active involvement of David Bowie, who composed part of the soundtrack and lent his face and voice to the character of Boz. Released around the same time as Shenmue, the Quantic Dream game was also one of the first attempts to build a fully explorable 3D open world city, anticipating the release of GTA 3 by a couple of years. Released in 1999 on PC and a year later on Dreamcast, it was also announced for PlayStation, but a few months after the release, Eidos decided to cancel the project for reasons that have remained unknown until today.

According to rumors of the time, the PlayStation version of Omikron: The Nomad Soul was not only actively in development, but was also 70% complete. “It was absolutely playable. We still have the working prototype“confirmed Marchalot before handing us the case containing the CD-Rom that we show you in the following photos.

Small anecdote: Marchalot had been hired in Quantic Dream in 2000 to work on the sequel to Omikron: The Nomad Soul, a project announced and never realized. “I’m still waiting,” he said smiling.