Avantgarden S.r.l. (formerly Ovosonico S.r.l.) is an Italian

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

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

. It was founded in 2012 by industry veterans Massimo Guarini and Gianni Ricciardi, sold to

Digital Bros Digital Bros S.p.A. is an Italian video game company that develops, publishes and distributes games. It publishes games under its 505 Games subsidiary brand since 2007 and established video game development school, ''Digital Bros Game Academy'' ...

in 2020.

History

Before the establishment of the studio, Guarini was the director for

Grasshopper Manufacture is a Japanese video game developer founded on March 30, 1998 by Goichi Suda. They are well known for creating titles such as '' killer7'' and the '' No More Heroes'' series. History The company was founded on March 30, 1998 in Suginami, J ...

's ''

Shadows of the Damned is a 2011 action-adventure video game developed by Grasshopper Manufacture and published by Electronic Arts for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It was directed by Massimo Guarini, produced by Shinji Mikami and written by Suda51. The game follo ...

'' and

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Anno'', '' Assassin's Creed'', ' ...

's '' Naruto: Rise of a Ninja''. He also has production credits in games for the ''

Splinter Cell ''Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell'' is a series of stealth action-adventure video games, the first of which was released in 2002, and their tie-in novels that were endorsed by Tom Clancy. The series follows Sam Fisher, a highly trained agent of a ...

'' and '' Rainbow Six'' franchises. After the release of ''Shadows of the Damned'', Guarini decided to move from Japan back to his home country and go independent. He wanted to do something different in life after being in the

video game industry The video game industry is the tertiary industry, tertiary and quaternary industry, quaternary sectors of the entertainment industry that specialize in the video game development, development, marketing, distribution (marketing), distribution, ...

for over fifteen years. His approach towards video games is more about trying to connect with humans, not just gamers. Back to Italy, Guarini reunites with his former colleague Gianni Ricciardi, music composer and audio director for ubisoft and other developers. The two founded Ovosonico in 2012, in a villa on

Lake Varese Varese Lake () is a lake of glacial origin in Lombardy, in the north of Italy. It has an area of 14.5 km², a medium depth of 11 m, and a maximum depth of 23 m. It hosted the Canoeing European Championships in 2012, the World Rowing Master Re ...

. In March 2013, Ovosonico announced a partnership with

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Team Soho was a British video game developer based in Soho, London. It was formerly the video game development division of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe before being spun off to develop ''The Getaway'' series; a second unit at Cambridge ...

for the development of a new

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

, becoming the first Italian game studio to work with Sony. The game, '' Murasaki Baby'', was announced at Sony's press conference during Gamescom 2013 for the

PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, then in other international territories on February 22, 2012, and was produced ...

. The game was released in North America and Europe in September 2014.

invested in Ovosonico in September 2015, acquiring all Ricciardi's shares and gaining a 49% stake in the company, while Ricciardi left the company to found his own game audio production studio WANT Musik. In 2018, Guarini relocated Ovosonico to

. Digital Bros bought the remainder in March 2020. Guarini subsequently left the company and retained the Ovosonico brand under his company Guarini Design S.r.l., while the Ovosonico studio was rebranded Avantgarden with its twenty employees now managed by Digital Bros' Abramo "Rami" Galante.

Games developed

* '' Murasaki Baby'' (2014) * '' Last Day of June'' (2017) * '' Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Remake'' (2024)

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.avantgardengames.com/ Companies based in Milan Italian companies established in 2012 Privately held companies of Italy Video game companies established in 2012 Video game companies of Italy Video game development companies 2020 mergers and acquisitions