Hm. Well, I can say that
we won't see SB2 before late 2009. I can also say that despite the impression from first, second, and third look, we're still committed to developing SB2 although I am unwilling to provide hard evidence.
What I can say is that I am telling all our army customers that
all their SB Pro related projects must be finished in 2008 as we're going to "take a year off" in 2009. Because, "taking a year off" means for us concentrating on development work that we always wanted to do but didn't find the time for it.
I think that having a game version is an important element in our business strategy, which is probably the strongest argument I can bring forward to convince you that we are committed - because it simply makes sense for us.
Needless to say that a lot of the stuff that we're working on for SB Pro in 2008 will make its way into SB2. And it's going to be pretty cool stuff, looking at those army wish lists - going far beyond trivialities like "yet another playable vehicle". I mean, new vehicles are a very tangible benefit, but
"cool stuff" for me are features that add a whole new dimension to gameplay. Things without precedence in previous versions. 2010 is going to be an excellent year for the franchise, and I think we have a couple of aces up our sleeves to make the time worth the wait.
(Disclaimer: Yeah, that was the rhetoric equivalent to a smokescreen. Sorry, but it's our policy not to speculate about specifics of our development policy in public. We want to report if something's ready, not impress you with
big plans. Sure, we have big plans, but if we fail to implement them we don'twant to do the dance of "Well, y'know, it didn't exactly work out as planned, but we have this consolation prize: Tadaa!")