Over the last couple of years, the video game designer turned psychotherapist Howard Scott Warshaw has repeatedly teased in interviews that was about to return to game development to create a sequel to his hit 1982 Atari 2600 game Yars' Revenge for both the 2600 and the modern machines.
However, in the time since, nothing has really come of this, with Atari instead teaming up with WayForward on a Metroidvania called Yars' Rising, which is due out later this year and is being made without Warshaw's involvement.
In the absence of any new updates, fans have been curious to know what happened to this "true sequel", which would have been the first "Yars" game to feature Warshaw's direct involvement since the original. So here at Time Extension, we contacted Warshaw to find out more about the title, which he previously outlined back in 2022 would have been set on Yars' training grounds and saw the players acquiring the skills to defeat the Qotile.
As Warshaw explained to us over email, he and Atari once had an agreement in place to develop a sequel to the game and were working directly together, but after a design was put together, the company put the project on hold as it "was not in a position to do the development at that time."
Warshaw claimed, however, that he's now trying to get the game off the ground with another developer he's been talking to and that he's in some slow talks "with Atari people about getting this game development on the schedule." Atari currently owns the license to Yars, so without their involvement, Warshaw won't be able to proceed with his game as planned.
As he stressed, this time around, there's no agreement or plan in place with Atari, but "a design exists" and is "ready to begin implementation when they are".
He believes some fan input may "accelerate" these talks, by showing the company that there's an interest in seeing a new Yars game "that expands the story enormously and creates NEW gameplay".