On June 14th, 2020, Black Plasma Studios announced the plan to cancel Songs of War Seasons 2 and 3, an animation series 5 years in the making, with a story uncontested by anything else. Among the reasons cited include lack of revenue, lack of viewership, and burnout.
Of course, people were understandbly upset, and couldn’t accept the inevitable.
Almost 3 years later, there are still people who can’t accept that Songs of War is dead.
The Great Scism of Songs of War
Immediately following the annoucement, groups began forming with the goal to finish what had been left: Songs of War Season 2 and 3. Particurally, 2 main groups came about: Knights of Ardonia and Helios
Important Sidenote: I used to be a scene lighter for Helios, but left due to some internal disputes. Perhaps in the future (unless other former/current staff of Helios don't want me to), I'll write about what happened. This is mostly one of my hot takes, so of course you may take this as you will.
There were also a handful of people like Megste, who did the entire series with much smaller teams with hard deadlines. In general, a great fracturing had occured.
If you were a Songs of War fan during this period, you now had to follow the development of multiple studios, each with their own motivations and goals. As such, these groups would just have drama non-stop. This would end up leaving a bad taste in people’s mouths.
David Didn’t Want to Continue, so Stop Asking Him
I personally didn’t want to invest another four years of my life into one series unless it was just doing like phenomenally good and you know I was about 25 at the time I think. I’m 26 now and I didn’t really want to be like almost 30 years old and just finishing some minecraft animation stuff \
- David R. B.
Looking at the comments of the cancelation annoucement, it’s impressive how much people didn’t pay attention to the actual announcement. Here’s some of the most recent comments (as of writing):
Please The Whole Community Is Begging For Next Song Of War. Now Do It Don’t Care About Views Because You Need To Believe In Your Creation In Your Talent. No Matter What Happen But Never Ever Give Up. You Must Return With Banger The Banger We All Want. Don’t Loose Hope. She Believed In You When No One Does (Mother). I Know It’s Painful It’s Hard But You Must Return Or Be The Dead. I Hope This Message Create Something On Your Mind. If I Am A Millionaire I Will Donate 100 Million To That Animation (Song Of War) For Next Part. But Unfortunately I Am 16 Year Kid Who Had Almost No Money, No Love, Broken. Love You And Your Team. I Hope You Read That Message. Peace .Thank You!
bro i became depressed for 2 weeks bc this vid was released PLS BRING BACK SONGS OF WAR
But dude the movie got above 50 million people didn’t watch episode cuz the all watched ur movie and also most people don’t want to spend some time finding right episode
Guys, chill, I get why you’re upset but it’s been 3 years. In that time, David has been working on an FPS game called Arcadian Rift and based on his devlogs sounds way happier and less stressed then during Songs of War production+. If David didn’t want to continue, then that’s his decision and we should respect that. He’s human with his own life, not a robot, how hard is that to understand?
+ While writing this I was told that David canceled Arcadian Rift due to some IRL issues. As of writing, I do not know the full scope of the issue, but needless to say I think it's even more important that we don't keep bothering David over Songs of War
Update: yeah, let's just say David is not welcome in the Minecraft animation and game dev communities anymore. I've kept the original text for transparency reaons.
Let’s Accept the Death of Songs of War, and Let It Rest in Peace
“But why were the assets, scene files, and script released if he didn’t want us to continue Songs of War?”
Because Songs of War assets can be used for other original ideas. The assets contain a treasure trove of items and models most people would pay money for someone to make, and he released them for free. The scene files are also something that can be opened and inspected to see how the David R.B (and the many other Songs of War animators) did stuff. Much of their techniques would remain mostly a secret till the end of times if they had never been released.
When I look at how Songs of War assets are being used, I mostly see 2 things:
- Continuation of Songs of War
- A spin-off of Songs of War
And everytime I just think, “That’s not why the assets and scene files were released.” Imagine what awesome and unique ideas we would have if people wearn’t so focused on abusing the Songs of War hype and moved on. In a way, Songs of War would live longer if we just started using the assets for stuff that isn’t Songs of War.
I’m guilty of this too, but I’ve moved on, and frankly I think the rest of us should to. We’ve been digging up the grave of Songs of War way too much, we’ve abused the hype way too much, and I think it’s time we let it rest in peace.
If not for accepting Songs of War’s death, at least for letting Songs of War live on beyond itself.