While most of THQ's studios were snatched up by the likes of SEGA, Ubisoft and other companies, one studio that was left out in the cold was Vigil Games, makers of the Darksiders franchise.
Well, the studio's staff are nomads no more. Crytek, developers of the Crysis franchise, has set up Crytek USA in Austin, Texas and they're shoring it up with Vigil Games employees.
Over on a phone interview with Gamasutra, Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli states. "Crytek U.S. was always the plan for us," and adds, "It's a very significant expansion of our development culture and a big step for our CryEngine business."
Crytek USA is comprised of 35 game developers, some from Vigil's core team and some from Austin-based developers who were looking to start fresh. Though it's not a complete studio transition for Vigil (not everyone from Vigil made the jump) and the Darksiders IP won't be coming along for the ride, too.
With the studio's opening just happening recently, Yerli couldn't really disclose what the U.S. team will be doing other than they will focus on "online games and kick-ass triple-A productions. It is going to be quite a significant investment for Crytek over the next five years."
Crytek was also one of the bidders in THQ's liquidation sale, acquiring the Homefront franchise from the troubled publisher for $500,000. Speaking of which, Homefront 2 is being developed by Crytek.
The company's next game out the gates is Crysis 3, which is slated to hit the PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 on February 19.
