The latest game with the name Commandos dates back to 2006 with Commandos Strike Force.
Before that there was Commandos 3: Destination Berlin which was released in 2003. While this had the ingredients of Commandos it wasn't a true Commandos game for everyone. For some the latest great Commandos games dates back to 2001, when Commandos 2: Men of Courage was released.
I was curious about what Pyro has been doing since then and why we haven't seen a new Commandos game.
Let's try and find out.
Heart of Stone
Before focusing on Commandos we go back to 25/05/2000 when IGN releases a preview and screenshots of a game called Heart of Stone. Heart of Stone is named as a "a strategy game with plot". Unfortunately if we look at the linkedin profile of David Punset Martinez http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidpunset, we learn that the game was cancelled. There is another cancelled project as well which we'll discuss later.
With the exception of IGN's preview and screenshots, the only media available on the game is the following cinematic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5z9AXKiIoVM
People familiar with the Commandos series, will recognize the voice of the narrator.
Departure of key people
After the release of Commandos 2 we saw the departure of key people behind the Commandos series. The project leader and co-founder of Pyro Studios, Gonzalo Suárez and the lead programmer Jon Beltrán founded Arvirago Entertainment (in september 2002) and started working on The Lord of the Creatures.
Along with them about 12 people behind the Commandos series went with them.
Gonzalo Suárez is still president of Arvirago entertainment. In 2009 Digital Legends bought the rights to The Lord of the Creatures for iPhone and ipad. It is planned for a 2012 release.
Jon Beltrán has moved on and is now CEO of Mouin a company that specializes in making mobile apps for the web.
Ignacio Pérez Dolset, another one of the key people behind Commandos and the founder of Pyro Studios still works for Pyro. He later founded Illion Animated Studios and is co chairman of the ZED mobile group.
Praetorians, Imperial Glory, CSF
In 2003 Pyro releases Praetorians a 3D real-time tactics game. Later in 2005 Pyro releases Imperial Glory, another real time tactics game. In 2006 we see Commandos Strike Force. While maintaining the name Commandos, the game abandons the isometric view and the strategy concept of the original series.
COPS & Planet 51
If we look back at the linkedin profile of David Punset Martinez we see another game listed. We believe that that game was called COPS and was developed between the release of CSF and Planet 51.
Planet 51 was released in 2009 for Xbox 360 and PS3. There was also an animated movie called Planet 51, created by Illion Animated Studios.
Cops was also cancelled and we do not know what kind of game it could have been. The only media we found is a video presentation (rather poor quality) and a demo reel.
http://www.tafn.info/cops/content/trailer.mp4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhxwHzvt-5Y&feature=related
Just like with Heart of Stone, it is unclear why the game was cancelled.
Pyro studios today
After the release of Planet 51 Pyro Studios moved toward the social space (facebook etc.), where they published a couple of games under the iZ label . Pyro Studios also started a spin off studio for mobile games.
Knowing this it seems the chance of seeing a new Commandos game as we know and love is pretty slim. Perhaps we will see a mobile or web version in the future?
And if not, a release of the tools behind the Commandos games would be very welcome. With Strike in Narrow Path, and Destination Paris, the community has already shown what it can do, even without the proper tools.
Update:
I've contacted Pyro Studios to get a comment on if they are working on a new Commandos game or not or if they have plans in that direction. Haven't heard anything yet.
