Vigil Team Leaves Crytek, Forms New Studio, Darksiders 3 Possible

David Adams and the original members of Vigil Games, known for their work on the Darksiders franchise, have all resigned from Crytek USA and have gone on to make their own independent studio, Gunfire Games.

Polygon reports that many key members of Crytek USA have quit the studio and have formed their own development team. These developers include Vigil Games founder and the head of Crytek USA, David Adams, along with many of Vigil Games' original members. Vigil Games released Darksiders in 2010 and Darksiders 2 in 2012. The THQ bankruptcy led to Vigil Games being one of the unfortunate studios to collapse (THQ purchased Vigil Games a few years prior), until Crytek scooped them up and designated Adams and his team at Austin, TX the newest branch of Crytek, Crytek USA.

Unfortunately, Crytek has been suffering many financial troubles, with many employees from its multiple studios reporting late and unpaid wages. Adams and his core team have decided to quit the company and form their own group, Gunfire Games, just 18 months after joining Crytek.

"I decided and resigned that same day," Adams said. "Forming another independent studio was something that I thought about because of what was going on."

"It got to the point where people were starting to leave."

Adams remains adamant that leaving was the group decision of his team.

"It really was the team," Adams  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."

We wholeheartedly agree with Adam's statement. Crytek USA had nearly 50 employees and has dropped down to less than 25 after Guzenda, Adams and their team left. Many others have been laid off in the meantime.

"We have seven people, all of the leads at Crytek USA," said Matt Guzenda, studio director of Gunfire Games. "We're still working on the next round of guys coming around."

Guzenda laments leaving Crytek USA's Hunt: Horrors of the Gilded Age in the middle of its development. He even mentions that it was one of the only things that inclined the team to stay, next to the other employees who weren't planning on leaving.

"I think that was the reason it took us so long to make that decision," he said. "It was the right decision to make. But we had to decide if we wanted to walk away from [Hunt]."

"We're more attached to the team than the IP. We can always make another IP," Guzenda said. "We walked away from them [Crytek], not the other way around."

Adams mentioned that Crytek did not regularly communicate with them to let them know what was happening with the company, which coincides with the reports of poor communication when it came to need-to-know information from the company HQ in Frankfurt, Germany.

"It's the same thing that happened at THQ, but at least at THQ we finished Darksiders 2. In our heads there was a Darksiders 3, and we never got to make that," Adams added.

Adams mentioned that Gunfire Games has been speaking with Nordic Games, the current owners of the Darksiders IP, in regards to having a third title made. They have also been speaking with multiple other publishers to see what kind of work they can get. Gunfire Games is seeking to create its own original IP and to work on an established one, preferably Darksiders. Here's to hoping Adams and Guzenda are able to make both of these things happen.