Transformers: Rise Of The Dark Spark Spotted On Amazon

In a world filled with movie-game tie-ins and terrible licensed property cash-ins, the Transformers brand has surprisingly been able to stand on its own as a pretty good video game series. I may not be fond of the way Activision does a lot of their business, but I was hard pressed to hold my wallet against the urge to indulge in War for Cybertron and Fall of Cybertron (especially with that super awesome G1 DLC pack, but I digress). So of course, interest and excitement flared up when a pesky group of gamers managed to spot a now-removed listing from Amazon for a brand new Transformers title.

Spotted by Transformers World, the name of the game is called Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark and it was allegedly listed for the Xbox 360 (makes sense), PS4 (that also makes sense), the Nintendo 3DS (also known as the “machine that prints money”) and the Nintendo Wii U (woot!). Some people may or may not agree with that console listing given that the PS3 is strangely absent (possibly due to porting costs, and yes the PS3 is still one of the more expensive systems to port to, even with Sony's waive of certification fees) and there's not an Xbone listing in sight.

Adding some weight to this listing was a description that was up before Amazon removed the entry, which read...

That description explains about diddly squat what the game is actually about. I mean, what does that even mean? Perfect for “veteran fans” and “newcomers”? So people who like video games will this game and people who casually like video games will like this game? Really?! Big shocker right there.

Anyway, the more pertinent observation centers around the game's actual gameplay. Those on the the TFW2005 forum board debated whether this will be like the movie tie-in games or closer to the Cybertron series from High Moon Studios.

If you take a quick look on their official job listing page via their official website, they are looking to higher a lighting artist but the listing was last updated on February 20th... … … 2013. That was a year ago a week from now. It's highly unlikely that they're still looking to fill a position for a game due out sometime later this year.

Now, previously, TT Games had developed the official Transformers Game that tied in with the movie, and they are hiring for some upcoming projects (and obviously it does involve LEGOs). However, outside of LEGO development they could be heading back to the Transformers universe based on who they're looking to higher. But they seem an unlikely candidate given that hiring a project coordinator and a game scripter this late in the game would make the entire thing a crunch-time project if they hope to get the title out sometime before the year ends.

Quite naturally, the common thing to do was reach out for Activision to see what they had to say about the listing. For now, they have yet to respond.

We'll keep you posted if anything changes. And big thanks to Nathan Kinney for the heads-up about the news.