hope they don't get stuck making exclusively mobile games. I'd love to see a UE4 RPG from Epic and these guys.
Epic opens Maryland studio
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Hunt Valley-based Impossible Studios' first task is collaborating with Chair on Infinity Blade: Dungeons for iOS; studio staffed by former Big Huge Games devs.
Epic Games has added another studio to its family. The Gears of War developer this morning announced Impossible Studios, a new outfit based in Hunt Valley, Maryland and staffed by former Big Huge Games developers. The developer's first task will be assisting Chair Entertainment on Infinity Blade: Dungeons for iOS, due out later this year.
Impossible Studios is led by studio director Sean Dunn, who formerly served as studio general manager at Big Huge Games on Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. Previously, Dunn held high-level positions at THQ and Activision. According to Epic's announcement of Impossible Studios, the new developer consists of other former employees at Big Huge Games, who lost their jobs earlier this year when parent company 38 Studios collapsed.
The formation of Impossible Studios comes as little surprise, as Epic president Mike Capps said in June that the company was planning to create a new studio from the ashes of Big Huge Games. At the time, he said former Big Huge Games leadership contacted Epic, saying the newly out-of-work developers wished to start a new company with the help of Epic while keeping "key" staffers together.
Capps said in June that there are "a million things to work out," including how many former Big Huge Games staffers it will be able to hire. It is not clear how many have joined Impossible Studios.
Impossible Studios joins Epic's growing network, which includes its headquarters in Cary, North Carolina; Chair Entertainment in Salt Lake City, Utah; People Can Fly in Warsaw, Poland; Epic Games Korea in Seoul, Korea; and Epic Games Japan in Yokohama, Japan.
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
36 comments
would be awesome if epic now buy the rights to Amalur and we get these guys making a sequel
1 Like @Ferg1213 Best? No, best of the times...not so much. The standard of AAA games(which grows lower every 2 years) pretty much.
Sadly like most modern games its more film than game, with out a solid gameplay narrative and reasonably deep mechanics its just another movie game you have to pause a lot. But don't worry its not just Gears, Halo,COD,BIoshock and every other A-AAA title are lacking as they are rushed fodder.
@NVDuy Essentially todays games are made under the lowest standard of quality and depth, a good game today is just a mediocre game 15+ years ago. While Halo,Bioshock,ect are not crap they are held down and far from great.
Its amazing how Epic aqcires (sp) so many studios yet cash spoiled MS is just too happy to seat its arse on its pile of cash
1 Like @steelmouth ms doesn't know how to take care of its own studio's Look at what they did to rare and ensemble....
1 Like @steelmouth Well, unlike Epic, MS has a lot of other things to worry about besides developing videogames.
A bit of friendly rivalry never hurt anyone, so Bethesda shouldn't complain about their new neighbors or they might risk being labelled 'elitist'!
That logo is amazing. A bear with wings and a unicorn horn. Holy shit I need to change my pants now.
In my opinion, I hope Epic Games buys the Kingdoms of Amalur IP, because the Impossible Studios had developers that experienced on developing the vidoe game.
3 Like @interrasteral7 Well, sadly Epic doesn't have rights to that. They hired the people, but it sounds like the state of RI owns the rights of the Kingdoms of Amalur IP. That's right, a state owns it.
Which is about the strangest thing I have ever heard.
1 Like This might be the best thing to come out of that whole Schilling fiasco. Glad to hear most of these people were able to land on their feet.
8 Like Glad to hear some of the people from Big Huge Games were able to bounce back. Nice to see Epic help out a fellow game studio.
I wish. MD has the highest per capita income in the US and one of the highest costs of living too. However, it has a long history in game development as this is where Microprose (Sid Meier) and Bethesday Softworks got their start.
It's good to see this. Usually there are only news about studios getting shut down and this is good for everyone working in game industry and every gamer. :)
As long as EA isn't involved, this is good news to hear a new studio open up and devs getting their jobs back. I'd like to see Amalur grow and progress, because the first game was very sloppy, but rich with ideas. Maybe Epic can show them the way.
They're just killing time right now helping with the iPhone game. An entire studio could develop an iPhone game in about a week. I'll bet Epic is waiting until the Amlur IP and assets are up for sale, and RI just got ownership of them.
@hector530 Well, as vochelli said the IP is up for grabs since 38 Studios fell. Maybe I'm just being idealistic, but the devs that worked on Amalur could make it better if Epic owned the rights and worked together on it.
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