Gunfire Games, LLC is an American

video game developer A video game developer is a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large business with em ...

based in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

. The studio was founded by David Adams in July 2014, bringing with him the core team of

Crytek USA Crytek USA Corp. was an American video game developer based in Austin, Texas, and a subsidiary of Crytek. The studio was led by David Adams, who was formerly the CEO of Vigil Games; a studio that had been acquired by THQ, but was shut down a ...

just before that studio's closure. The company was acquired by

THQ Nordic THQ Nordic GmbH (formerly Nordic Games GmbH) is an Austrian video game publisher based in Vienna. Formed in 2011, it is a publishing subsidiary of Embracer Group. Originally named Nordic Games, as was the parent company, both companies were r ...

in August 2019.

History

Gunfire Games founder David Adams had previously founded the developer

Vigil Games Vigil Games was an American game development company owned by THQ. It was formed by comic artist Joe Madureira and David Adams (video game designer), David Adams in 2005. History Vigil Games was founded in 2005 by Joe Madureira, David Adams, Mar ...

alongside other former

NCSoft NCSoft Corporation (stylized as NC, formerly stylized as NCSOFT; ) is a South Korean video game developer and publisher headquartered in Pangyo, Seongnam, South Korea, primarily known for the distribution of massively multiplayer online role-pl ...

employees in 2005. Vigil Games developed the ''

Darksiders ''Darksiders'' is a hack and slash action-adventure video game franchise created by Vigil Games, now developed by Gunfire Games, which consists of some of the original members of Vigil. The series is set on a post-apocalyptic Earth, where ma ...

'' series and was acquired by

THQ THQ Inc. was an American video game company based in Agoura Hills, California. It was founded in April 1990 by Jack Friedman, originally in Calabasas, and became a public company the following year through a reverse merger takeover. Initial ...

in 2006. The studio remained mostly unchanged until 2013, when THQ folded after filing for

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

in 2012. On the last day of Vigil Games' operations, Adams received a call from

Crytek Crytek GmbH is a German video game developer and software developer based in Frankfurt. Founded by the Yerli brothers in Coburg in 1999 and moved to Frankfurt in 2006, Crytek operates additional studios in Kyiv, Ukraine and Istanbul, Turkey. It ...

asking him to help establish an American branch for the company; subsequently, Adams found himself as

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of the newly established

two days later, bringing two-thirds of Vigil Games' former staff (around 50 people) with him. The idea for Crytek USA came about last-minute as no one had bid to acquire Vigil Games in THQ's bankruptcy auctions. Crytek later faced financial challenges as a result of which Crytek USA was chronically under-funded. At the same time, Adams wished to take matters in his own hands without having to rely on a larger governing entity. Thus, in July 2014, Adams decided to start an independent studio, Gunfire Games, and quit his job of eighteen months on the same day. Gunfire Games began with seven people, all of them former leads from Crytek USA. Matthew Guzenda became the

studio director Studio manager, studio director, or studio head is a job title in various media-related professions, including design, advertising, and broadcasting. Design and advertising A design or advertising studio manager's responsibilities will typically ...

. The studio quickly grew to 22 people by February 2015, and to 60 people by November 2017. For initial financing, the company turned to developing

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a Simulation, simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video gam ...

games, partially in

work-for-hire In copyright law, a work made for hire (work for hire or WFH) is a work whose copyright is initially owned by an entity other than the actual creator as a result of an employment relationship or, in some cases, a commission. It is an exception to t ...

projects, for the

Oculus Rift Oculus Rift is a discontinued line of virtual reality headsets, virtual reality headsets developed and manufactured by Oculus VR, a virtual reality company founded by Palmer Luckey that is widely credited with reviving the virtual reality indust ...

and

Samsung Gear VR The Samsung Gear VR is a virtual reality headset developed by Samsung Electronics, in collaboration with Oculus VR, and manufactured by Samsung. The headset was released on August 21, 2015. When in use, a compatible Samsung Galaxy device acts as ...

headsets. The studio developed five such games: ''Herobound: Spirit Champion'', ''Herobound Gladiators'', ''

Chronos Chronos (; ; , Modern Greek: ), also spelled Chronus, is a personification of time in Greek mythology, who is also discussed in pre-Socratic philosophy and later literature. Chronos is frequently confused with, or perhaps consciously identified ...

'', ''Dead and Buried'', ''From Other Suns''. Following exchanges with

Nordic Games The Nordic Games were the first international multi-sport event that focused primarily on winter sports, and were held at varying intervals between 1901 and 1926. It was organized by Sweden's Swedish Central Association for the Promotion of ...

(later known as THQ Nordic), Gunfire Games got to develop '' Darksiders II: Deathinitive Edition'', a

remaster A remaster is a change in the sound or image quality of previously created forms of media, whether Mastering (audio), audiophonic, Cinematography, cinematic, or Videography, videographic. The resulting product is said to be remastered. The term ...

of ''Darksiders II'', which had been created by Vigil Games. The studio was also hired to develop a new entry in the ''Darksiders'' franchise, '' Darksiders III'', which was released in 2018. In August 2019, THQ Nordic acquired Gunfire Games for an undisclosed price. At the time, Gunfire Games had 63 employees. On August 20, 2019, '' Remnant: From the Ashes'' was released through publisher Perfect World Entertainment.

Games developed

References

External links

* {{Darksiders 2014 establishments in Texas 2019 mergers and acquisitions American companies established in 2014 American subsidiaries of foreign companies Companies based in Austin, Texas THQ Nordic divisions and subsidiaries Video game companies based in Texas Video game companies established in 2014 Video game development companies