Trivia / Kane & Lynch

• Adored by the Network: Eidos seem to have been far more in love with the series than most gamers and even IO Interactive themselves were, pouring a huge amount of effort into marketing the first game and telling IO to abandon all their other franchises in favor of focusing exclusively on Kane and Lynch games. This was due to the interest in a Kane & Lynch movie that had such stars as Will Smith attached to it. This ended when Eidos was bought out by Square Enix.
• Acting for Two: Liam O'Brien lends his voice to most of Glazer's Squad in Dog Days. The ones who aren't (J.C. and Roy Wayne) are instead voiced by Robin Atkin Downes.
• Development Hell: Movie rights were optioned while the franchise was poised as Eidos's next breakout IP, with names like Gerard Butler and Vin Diesel attached, but the series' lukewarm reception and Square Enix and even IO Interactive themselves not considering it a priority eventually iced it.
• Executive Meddling: The reason for the second game existing- IO wanted to go back to Hitman and make Absolution, scheduled for a 2009/2010 release date, but Eidos decided that Kane and Lynch would be a big franchise and ordered them to make it— some fans say that Dog Days is bad on purpose because of it.
• Follow the Leader: March 2009: Army of Two: The 40th Day is announced, and will feature Salem & Rios trying to get out of Shanghai after a job goes south. November 2009: Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days is announced, and will feature Kane & Lynch trying to get out of Shanghai after a job goes south.
• Franchise Killer: The negative reception to Dog Days appears to have put the game series down for good.
• Playing Against Type: You wouldn't think that Charles Martinet aka Mario & Luigi, is voicing a alcoholic vaultbreaker.
• Viral Marketing: A rather bizarre marketing campaign played up the second game's YouTube-ish Stylistic Suck to such a degree that you'd think Kane and Lynch were actually being tailed by the paparazzi.
• What Could Have Been: A third game, a film adaptation and various other spin-offs were in the works by the time Eidos were bought out by Square Enix. The new owners of the series evidently weren't as enamored with the concept, scrapping all of that and telling IO to focus on making the game that would eventually become Hitman: Absolution.

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