Frozenbyte VP Joel Kinnunen took to the Steam Forums after the criticism of Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power began.
Mr. Kinnunen was quick to defend the game, explaining that they took to a much more ambitious project then they first thought. “Back in late 2012, we set out to do Trine 3 in full 3D – bigger, badder, better. We took a big risk with the 3D gameplay implementation – it was to be a massive improvement over the previous games in several areas. We have always been ambitious and this time our ambition may have gotten the better of us. ”
Trine 3 cost them a lot more then the original estimate, and the fact is they just ran out of money. Although they expected to make the game about 3x as big as they released, it was too late when they realized just how much money it cost them. The game would of ended up being around 15 million USD, something they didn’t have the pockets for.
Although many players have complained they finished Trine 3 in 4-5 hours, which is quite short for a $22 game, the developers expect new players to finish in 5-7. “I’m sure you can speedrun it much faster too, but so you could in previous Trine games and in most other games too.”
Trine 3 ends on a cliffhanger, but Mr. Kinnunen explained that there are no current plans for DLC. Creating the game much shorter then expected is not a grab for more money, but rather an expectation of understanding from the consumer.
Mr. Kinnunen also recognized the technical difficulties in Trine 3, and they are hoping to have them sorted within a week or two.