Latest news with #StigAsmussen
Geek Culture
4 days ago
- Business
- Geek Culture
'Dungeons & Dragons' Single-Player Game In The Works From 'Star Wars Jedi' Veteran
Giant Skull, a new game studio founded by Star Wars Jedi franchise and God of War 3 director Stig Asmussen, is hard at work on an upcoming single-player Dungeons & Dragons action adventure. The currently untitled project was announced by Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast, and follows previous reports that Giant Skull was making a new AAA single-player game built in Unreal Engine 5. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (2023) 'Our talented and experienced team at Giant Skull is built on creativity and curiosity,' Asmussen said in a statement. 'Our goal is to craft a rich new Dungeons & Dragons universe filled with immersive storytelling, heroic combat and exhilarating traversal that players will fully embrace.' Formed in 2024 after Asmussen left Electronic Arts and Respawn Entertainment a year prior, Giant Skull's leadership team also consists of lead producer Lauren McLemore ( Fortnite, League of Legends ), art director Patrick Murphy ( Valorant, Ratchet & Clank ), CTO Jon Carr ( Star Wars Jedi: Survivor ), design director Jeff Magers ( Star Wars Jedi franchise, Medal of Honor: Airborne ), animation director Brian Campbell ( Fortnite ) and COO/CFO Anthony Scott. Previous reports also indicated that the team consists of Rockstar alumni as well. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (2019) Giant Skull's latest project is set to add another notch to publisher Wizards of the Coast's belt, joining a separate D&D action adventure game by Invoke Studios, the team behind 2021's Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance , alongside the sci-fi RPG Exodus , which will be helmed by Archetype Entertainment, a team made from former Mass Effect veterans. With Asmussen's impressive track record consisting of highly successful games like the Star Wars Jedi franchise, God of War II and its sequel God of War III , hopes are high that Giant Skull would be able to deliver an immersive story-focused adventure set in the captivating world of Dungeons & Dragons . The project is still in its infancy, although it was confirmed to be a multi-platform title and will launch on PC and consoles 'at a later date'. Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise 'duds' like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3 . He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
Engadget
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Engadget
A single-player Dungeons & Dragons game is in development
Stig Asmussen, the game industry veteran who directed God of War III and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and Fallen Order , is developing a single-player action-adventure game set in the world of Dungeons & Dragons in partnership with publisher Wizards of the Coast . This will be the first project for Asmussen's studio Giant Skull since its founding in late 2023. In a press release sent to Engadget, the studio shared it is "dedicated to building gameplay-driven, story-immersed action-adventure games." The new project will be built on the Unreal 5 engine and is currently in development for PC, with console details coming at a later date. No specific release dates, renderings or game content has been shared as of yet, making it unlikely this game will be out before 2026. John Hight, president of Wizards of the Coast (the owners of the iconic tabletop RPG), said "Stig and the team at Giant Skull are exactly the type of exceptionally talented creators we want to work with and I'm so happy to be reuniting with him on this new project.' Stig Asmussen shared that the studio's goal is to "craft a rich new Dungeons & Dragons universe filled with immersive storytelling, heroic combat and exhilarating traversal that players will fully embrace." This new project comes as Wizards of the Coast moves on from its deal with developer Larian Studios, the team behind the widely-acclaimed Baldur's Gate 3 . The Hasbro -owned publisher has a slew of games in the pipeline in partnership with various game studios in the United States and Canada. These include the sci-fi RPG Exodus , which is being developed by Archetype Entertainment, and Atomic Arcade's Snake Eyes , which is based on the G.I. Joe.
Metro
30-04-2025
- Business
- Metro
EA cuts up to 400 jobs after FC 25 and Apex Legends sales collapse
Titanfall developer Respawn has been badly hit by EA's latest round of layoffs, with at least two new games being cancelled this year. Giving up the name FIFA, because it was becoming too expensive to licence, was a big risk for EA, but it seemed to pay off when EA Sports FC 24 was just as big a hit as ever. But last year's EA Sports FC 25 was not and after multiple reports of it selling below EA's expectations the company has laid off over 300 employees across multiple studios. The job losses that have ravaged the video games industry since the end of the pandemic haven't been in the news as much lately, but they've never gone away. In fact, they've been sadly consistent, at over 1,500 layoffs every quarter, since last summer. Over 30,000 developers have lost their jobs since 2021 and after cutting 670 jobs last year EA has made another massive dent in their staff numbers, with anything up to 400 redundancies across Respawn Entertainment and others. The problem is that not only was EA Sports FC 25 a disappointment, but live service game Apex Legends has also seen a decline in business over recent months, with many of the layoffs centred around developer Respawn. EA has not confirmed the exact numbers, but Bloomberg suggests that between 300 to 400 jobs have gone in total, with 100 layoffs at Respawn. This has led to two Respawn games being cancelled, although it's unclear if rumours of Titanfall 3 were ever true. One unknown title was canned earlier in the year but the other was an unannounced extraction shooter set in the Titanfall/Apex Legends universe and codenamed R7. Respawn has confirmed that it has cancelled 'two early-stage incubation projects' and made 'some targeted team adjustments across Apex Legends and Star Wars Jedi.' The third and final Star Wars Jedi title has already had a rocky start, after series creator director Stig Asmussen left Respawn, and nothing has been shown of the new game yet. 'As part of our continued focus on our long-term strategic priorities, we've made select changes within our organisation that more effectively aligns teams and allocates resources in service of driving future growth,' is the purposefully non-descriptive comment from EA. Fan discontent with EA Sports FC 25 has been obvious for months now but it's unclear exactly how much it has missed EA's internal targets. The obvious concern for EA is how this year's EA Sports FC 26 will fare, especially as it is likely to be released around the same time as GTA 6. More Trending Likewise, there's no indication of exactly how much trouble Apex Legends is in, although Respawn has emphasised that work on it continues and that they are currently 'expanding what Apex can be', while 'investing in what's next for the franchise.' The only underperformance with any context is last autumn's Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which sold half of what EA was expecting – although it was never going to be as big a moneymaker as EA's core franchises. Since Star Wars Jedi 3 is likely to be several years away, EA is currently focusing a lot of effort on Battlefield 6, which is due to be released before March next year (a decision that may be dependent on when GTA 6 arrives). However, given Battlefield's uneven sales performance over the years, that's not a very safe pair of hands. For a long time now, FIFA has been the backbone of EA's business but if that begins to waver then EA, and the games industry at large, could be in for even more turmoil. Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: Battersea organises virtual pitch invasion of AI dogs to promote adoption MORE: PS6 and next gen Xbox out by 2027 reveals cancelled game report MORE: Overwatch 3 and StarCraft 3 rumoured after Blizzard signs new development deal
