Sierra plays cards close to chest, putting X-Box game on hold

Just weeks after canning Half-Life for the Dreamcast and giving a ridiculously scant explanation, Sierra Studios has today announced that it has put the X-Box game Jonny Drama on hold.

A statement issued by the American based company, now part of Vivendi Interactive reads: “After the overwhelming positive response Jonny Drama received at E3, Sierra realised the game's potential to be great. The development team has created innovative characters, great artwork and an appeal to a broad audience. The success of this game will also rely on the gameplay. So, we've decided to take a step back, take a closer look at the concept and redirect the game so its potential for success is unlimited. As this new direction is defined, we will let you know about our plans to move forward.”

This doesn’t really make sense to us. If the game, in its current state received “an overwhelmingly positive response,” why would it make sense to effectively shelve the game at this time. Either Sierra Studios has some sort of difficulty at the moment or the company has some doubts relating to the viability of Jonny Bravo for the Xbox.

Sierra is not known for its logical decisions of late. The canning of Half-Life for the Dreamcast, after all the development had been completed and the game had gone gold, mystified everyone.