Stig Asmussen – the director of God of War 3, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor – was confirmed to have left Respawn Entertainment in September last year, and it’s now been revealed what he’s working on next.
As reported by Game Informer, Asmussen has established Giant Skull, a new AAA development studio that will be focused on crafting “gameplay-driven, story immersive action-adventure games set in captivating worlds” (which, of course, has very much been Asmussen’s wheelhouse).
Giant Skull’s staff boasts a number of industry veterans who have previously worked at Respawn Entertainment, Epic Games, Rocksteady Studios, Riot Games, and more. That includes design director Jeff Magers (Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor), art director Patrick Murphy (Valorant, Fortnite), chief technology officer Jon Carr (Star Wars Jedi: Survivor), lead producer Lauren McLemore (Fortnite), and animation director Brian Campbell (Fortnite).
“The Giant Skull studio culture is focused on creativity and curiosity,” Asmussen said. “We have assembled a talented team renowned for immersive storytelling, heroic combat, and exhilarating traversal, and our goal is to craft a rich universe that players will want to lose themselves in for years to come.”
“Our values for the studio to translate into how we make our games and our relationship with players – autonomy, momentum, curiosity, and respect,” said CFO and CTO Anthony Scott (formerly of Rocksteady Studios). “We want players to join us on every step of this amazing journey, as we pave the way for our upcoming game. We’re creating something special and have been fortunate enough to assemble an incredible team of developers who are extremely passionate and experienced in creating genre-defining, third-person, action-adventure games.”
Giant Skull’s first game is going to be a AAA single-player action-adventure game. It’s being developed using Unreal Engine 5.