THQ and Vigil Games Share Their Side of the Story on Darksiders 2’s Credits

Before posting my interview with Xander Davis regarding his time at Vigil Games this morning I received an e-mail from THQ, who reached out to me with the interest of communicating their side of the story. 

Vigil Games' General Manager David Adams had the following message to share.

After ending yesterday with the successful launch of Darksiders II, we at Vigil Games woke up to get word of a former employee’s statements regarding how his contributions were not being accounted for in the credits of the game.  What was most disheartening about the statements was how misleading they were, and how they fly in the face of how Vigil, culturally, feels about and treats our teams.

While employment and privacy laws preclude us from discussing the circumstances surrounding the departure of any individual no longer with the company, we can confirm that the employee in question worked for us a total of 90 days, whereas Darksiders II was more than 2 ½ years in development.  

When we were forced to reduce staff due to the cancellation of a project, we worked hard to ensure every single person effected by the layoff received their credit in the game.  We did not include individuals whose employment terminated for any other reason, for example, being let go for documented poor performance.

We believe we treat both current and former positive contributors to our studio like family, and any statements otherwise are highly inaccurate and can be verified as same.  We would ask any press who wish to report on this former employee's statements to check the accuracy of these erroneous claims, before printing them as factual. 

To reiterate, Vigil’s primary concern while doing Darksiders II credits was that we credited team members that were affected by the recent downsizing.   We were not focused on the issue of employees that voluntarily left or were fired from the company.  We find it alarming that a former employee would personally attack and lie about other team members while falsely inflating his contribution to the game.

We thank, once again, all those who positively contributed to Darksiders II.

-David Adams

General Manager, Vigil Games

We appreciate THQ and Vigil Games for coming forth with their side of the story.