Jagged Alliance 3 Enters Development Once Again

Publisher bitComposer Games today announced it has scooped the rights to the classic PC turn-based strategy series Jagged Alliance and "preliminary development work" has started on the long-awaited Jagged Alliance 3--a name with a troubled past.

While neither platforms nor a developer have been revealed yet, bitComposer promises Jagged Alliance 3 "will again deliver the much-loved combo of turn-based strategy gameplay with roleplay elements." The publisher wants "to continue the success of the previous titles in the series, while giving the new version a contemporary look, bearing in mind the strong features of its predecessors," said managing director Wolfgang Duhr.

The swish new logo and Jagged Alliance 2 Gold.

Several projects titled 'Jagged Alliance 3' have sprung up at various developers since Jagged Alliance 2 was released in 1999, starting at JA2 dev Sir-tech Canada. The most recent was by F3 Games, shown at E3 2007 but not heard of since 2008.

As part of the purchasing agreement, previous rights holder Strategy First will be allowed to continue development on a "social network based" Jagged Alliance game.

bitComposer says "a 2011 release is anticipated" for Jagged Alliance 3.