Vigil Games survives Crytek, forms new studio, considers more Darksiders

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Vigil Games survives Crytek, forms new studio, considers more Darksiders

By Brian Crecente on Aug 08, 2014 at 4:00p @crecenteb

 

Vigil Games may have died in the husk of THQ, a victim of a catastrophic video game industry implosion that scattered developers, studios and game franchises across the globe, but the spirit of the studio behind Darksiders, that core team of creators, lived on as Crytek USA.

 

That is, until three weeks ago, when Vigil founder and Crytek USA head David Adams had an epiphany of sorts and abruptly quit the company, taking his core studio team with him to form another independent studio: Gunfire Games.

 

"I decided and resigned that same day," Adams said.

 

While the decision to leave Crytek 18 months after joining the company was in part spurred by the publisher's money issues, said Adams, that wasn't the entire reason.

 

"Forming another independent studio was something that I thought about because of what was going on," he said. "It got to the point where people were starting to leave."

 

And it was those people, many of whom had worked as a team through three companies, who mattered most to Adams.

 

"It really was the team," he said. "When you make a game, one of the most important elements of that is the people you work with. You could get 12 of the best developers in the world and put them into a room and they may not make a good game."

 

But years of working together had turned Vigil into a core group of developers who could and did survive the death of not just their independent studio, but the closure of THQ and now, Adams hopes, the shake-ups at Crytek.

 

Gunfire Games, said studio director Matt Guzenda, is just getting off the ground with a handful of people.

 

"We have seven people, all of the leads at Crytek USA," he said. "We're still working on the next round of guys coming around."

 

And he's not yet sure how many of the team they'll be able to save. Crytek USA was once 45 people strong, but had slimmed down to a couple of dozen by the time Guzenda and Adams left.

 

Continues...

[Aergan]

Eidos / Crystal Dynamics needs to just give them the Legacy of Kain IP & two years worth of "skunkworks" time.

[+Asmodai MVC]

I love the DarkSiders games. I'm not usually a fan of that type of game but something about the art and style just hooked me. I even bought the "Art of..." book for the second one (would have gotten the first too but they're sold out everywhere). DarkSiders 3 for the PS4 would be amazing. Back when the whole THQ bankruptcy was going on I remember the Vigil devs talking about how it was always supposed to be a trilogy and the third one was supposed to have 4 player co-op with the four horsemen.

When the Vigil devs got picked up by Crytek I had hope but the game they announced, Hunt: Horrors of the Gilded Age, just didn't draw me like DarkSiders did. Even though it was sort of a spiritual successor in terms of gameplay and had the 4 player coop they wanted to put in DarkSiders 3 the whole Free to Play and 19th century setting just weren't my thing.

Now their on their own hopefully Nordic will license DarkSiders back to them and they can wrap up the trilogy as they originally wanted... then on to an original IP they actually own! I'm super excited there actually seems to be hope for a real DarkSiders 3 and not just a "spiritual successor" or Nordic licensing it out to a completely different set of devs. I really hope this works out.

[Boz]

I adore Darksiders. Amazing game with excellent game mechanic and diversity, storytelling was top notch as well.

I am really happy to hear this.