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Nordic Games wants to continue Darksiders, Crytek devs' advice/offer to reacquire IP

PaulLFC

Member
Shortly after the announcement that Nordic Games had acquired the Darksiders IP, they opened up a thread on their forums requesting feedback on what players liked and disliked about the series so far, suggesting that they would eventually want to continue the franchise, and not just sit on it:

The tale of the four horsemen has not been told to an end. So far we only know the story of War and Death but what about the other two? How will it go on?

What did you enjoy most about Darksiders and Darksiders II? What did you absolutely dislike? What kind of Darksiders game do you wish should be created next?

Please let us know!

Later on in the thread...

Naturally we dont have any sure plans for the future of the series as we dont even have a development team.
So for now we will be analysing the situation and try to figure out whats the best option.

One thing is sure: The tale of the four horsemen is not over!

Those two posts were made by Reinhard Pollice, Business & Product Development Director Nordic Games.

Today, NowGamer reports that some ex-Vigil devs have posted in the thread offering advice to Nordic, and also making an offer to continue the series should Nordic decide they don't want to proceed with it:

Ryan Stefanelli (Lead Level Designer on DS1 and DS2) said:
As one of the co-founders of Vigil and the lead level designer/principal designer on both games, all I can say is... make it adventurous. And do what we would've done: let people know what happens when those other three comets land on Earth! Four player co-op or bust! Good luck to you guys. You've adopted our baby.

Ben Cureton said:
If you actually ever go forward with the Darksiders franchise, be sure to focus on the things that made DS and DS2 cool.

Things like... that feeling of adventure (that Ryan mentioned), the fast-paced combat, the sense of scale, quality voice acting, and don't forget that Strife and Fury need to be BADASS... whatever you do, don't forget to crank the BADASS meter up to 11. If you are ever in doubt of what to do... just add more skulls! Oh yeah... it has to be 4 player. It's a must!

That being said, if you decide you don't want to continue making games for the series, let me know. We'd be more than happy to take the IP off your hands. In fact, you can even have all of the money that DS1 and DS2 continue to generate!

Interesting developments. Given those posts and the many others asking them to work with Crytek USA where possible, maybe something will eventually be worked out whereby Crytek's ex-Vigil studio develop a new entry in the series to be published by Nordic, or licence the IP from Nordic to develop a new game (if "parent Crytek" approve it, of course).
 

BY2K

Membero Americo
If you wanted the IP so bad you should have bid for it! But that's probably Crytek UK's decision...
 

Hasney

Member
All this doesn't sound very professional - it doesn't inspire me with confidence.

What doesn't sound very professional? It does sound like an impulse buy of all the remaining IPs, but I'm sure they can make their money back on them and since they don't have any plans for it at the moment, they may as well open up discussion to the fans and see if they can cherry pick some ideas when they develop in the future.

I'm just having trouble seeing where the unprofessional part is.
 

wrowa

Member
If you wanted the IP so bad you should have bid for it! But that's probably Crytek UK's decision...

I doubt Free Radical has any say in that matter. :p


Nice to see anyway. Nordic's pretty small despite being very successful on the casual market and the Darksiders IP might be the small core flagship they've been searching for. It's a good thing the IP didn't land in the hands of a bigger publisher that didn't actually care about it to begin with.
 
I've seriously never heard of Nordic Games before. They don't even have a Wikipedia page. What have they done in the past? Apparently they're based in Sweden -- I'm Swedish and never heard of them. I guess maybe they've acquired these IP's to become more well-known.

It must feel weird for a developer to lose their IP to someone else and watch them continue the game they started and love, as with the case of Vigil for instance. I can imagine how it must feel for them if the potential next Darksiders is a disappointment.
 

Log4Girlz

Member
Darksiders always seemed incredibly stupid to me. The first character was an abomination of design. WTF was with his gigantic gand.
 
Why the fuck would you pay even 30 cents for an ip if you have no inkling what you want to do with it or the talent to do something if you did?
 

Mdk7

Member
What did you enjoy most about Darksiders and Darksiders II? What did you absolutely dislike?
The fact that you, a shitty shovelware brand, acquired such a kick-ass quality franchise.
Darksiders is dead, and as a fan i am pretty fucking sad.
 
Not a huge fan of the first Darksiders, but the second one I just love. I really did dig the huib world construction, the way you could customize your characters with melee or magic and Dust is freaking awesome.

I would love to see CryT continue the series.
 
So they bought all the IPs with no real intent or idea how to do anything with them? This is one of the worst things that could of happened.
 

Bittercup

Member
I've seriously never heard of Nordic Games before. They don't even have a Wikipedia page. What have they done in the past? Apparently they're based in Sweden -- I'm Swedish and never heard of them. I guess maybe they've acquired these IP's to become more well-known.
They released Alan Wake on PC in Europe. Besides that I don't think they did much. Most of their games are from buying JoWood (Gothic, Spellforce, Painkiller etc)
http://www.nordicgames.at/index.php/product
 
Vigil - "Darksidere is our baby".

It clearly shows how much they love that franchise and how passionate they are about it. I hope Crytek/Vigil, get it back and make a true sequel.
 

Zaventem

Member
The fact that you, a shitty shovelware brand, acquired such a kick-ass quality franchise.
Darksiders is dead, and as a fan i am pretty fucking sad.

Darksiders was never top notch quality.It was always a B franchise.With that said i'm also sad that it went to some no name.
 
Darksiders is an expensive B-tier production. You're not going to get a proper sequel without funding in the double-digit millions, so I'm personally skeptical this will go anywhere.

Vigil - "Darksidere is our baby".

It clearly shows how much they love that franchise and how passionate they are about it.

Shame you can't tell that from the games themselves. :p
 

Deadly Cyclone

Pride of Iowa State
The fact that you, a shitty shovelware brand, acquired such a kick-ass quality franchise.
Darksiders is dead, and as a fan i am pretty fucking sad.

There's nothing to say that Nordic can't make this their breakout title. We should be happy that someone bought the IP. It could have been lost forever.
 

Dawg

Member
Thing is, you cannot continue a franchise like this without the original team. Not saying you need each and everyone, because I'm sure the lesser programmers etc can be replaced, but guys like Ryan Stefanelli and Ben Cureton are essential to this franchise, atleast that's my opinion.

So, unless they can strike a deal with Crytek (letting the ex-vigil guys work on DS3), I don't see this becoming anything.

This quote is sad btw:

all I can say is... make it adventurous. And do what we would've done: let people know what happens when those other three comets land on Earth! Four player co-op or bust! Good luck to you guys. You've adopted our baby.

Why? Because you damn well know Nordic Games has no developer that can do something like that, just look at their current market. They need a big/good developer team for this.
 

BY2K

Membero Americo
I hope if they continue it won't be a four player game,Darksiders has always been a solo game.

Darksiders was created to be a 4 Player Co-op Action/Adventure game. It was always meant to be. They just didn't have the experience to do it from the get-go.
 

gngf123

Member
I hope if they continue it won't be a four player game,Darksiders has always been a solo game.

To be fair, Vigil specifically said that four player co-op Darksiders was their dream.

I really hope Nordic can pull something out of the bag, but I'm just going to go and assume the series is dead for now.
 

Valnen

Member
Darksiders always seemed incredibly stupid to me. The first character was an abomination of design. WTF was with his gigantic gand.

War is one of the coolest characters this generation. And that voice, holy shit.

I need more Darksiders in my life.
 
Q

Queen of Hunting

Unconfirmed Member
Nordic Games are now owners of JoWood. nordic games recently published games are Alan Wake and Painkiller hell and damnation, they are also publishing painkiller on 360 and ps3 but it keeps getting delayed, meant to be coming next month now
 

El-Suave

Member
What doesn't sound very professional? It does sound like an impulse buy of all the remaining IPs, but I'm sure they can make their money back on them and since they don't have any plans for it at the moment, they may as well open up discussion to the fans and see if they can cherry pick some ideas when they develop in the future.

I'm just having trouble seeing where the unprofessional part is.

Buying an IP that you have no plans for and which is a league above your previous work as far as production values is concerned is one thing. Maybe they can sell it some day. But devs talking about money and suggesting deals in an open forum just strikes me as odd, even if they're just joking around.
 

Shiggy

Member
If Nordic produces a Darksiders 3 with a decent budget, I guess the Darksiders license will be up for sale sooner or later again.
 

tipoo

Banned
To be honest, I wouldn't be too upset about the story of the four horsemen not being completed. DS2 was pretty boring and even aggravating imho. I guess under a different developer it could be better, and if they went back to DS1 style for the next two it would be good, but it's not a franchise I'm aching for at any rate.
 

ZealousD

Makes world leading predictions like "The sun will rise tomorrow"
Darksiders is an expensive B-tier production. You're not going to get a proper sequel without funding in the double-digit millions, so I'm personally skeptical this will go anywhere.

Shame you can't tell that from the games themselves. :p

Fuck you, man! Darksiders is A-Tier to me. =(
 
"Naturally we dont have any sure plans for the future of the series as we dont even have a development team."

Fucking hell! I could've bought this fucking IP and done it more justice than Nordic, and that justice being me walking to Crytek's office and dropping off the papers.
 

Deadly Cyclone

Pride of Iowa State
Man, what is with the Nordic hate? They save Darksiders from being trashed completely and people bitch about it? How about giving them a chance?
 

Sid

Member
If they don't have too much cash they should turn into a portable franchise and reuse tons of assets,that way the budget can be lower and if it proves to be successful they can up port it to PS360.
 
Man, what is with the Nordic hate? They save Darksiders from being trashed completely and people bitch about it? How about giving them a chance?

Is it the same when Michael Jackson saved The Beatles' catalog? Yeah...

Here's why I (personally) am not pleased with this.

1. Nordic tossed money at it with the intention of sitting on it.
2. After winning the bids, they did the thing most clueless people do: ask others what to do with the newly acquired prize possession.
3. They have no dev team and have nothing going on for them.
4. They plan to sit on these IP until either they get a profitable offer from Crytek or if they can even out with the money from sales of legacy titles. None of which will happen anytime soon.

The entire THQ scrap acquisition was disgusting to watch. Not only did the studios that deserve it not bid on it enough, but that those that did bid on it have no clue what the hell to do with it.
 

wrowa

Member
"Naturally we dont have any sure plans for the future of the series as we dont even have a development team."

Fucking hell! I could've bought this fucking IP and done it more justice than Nordic, and that justice being me walking to Crytek's office and dropping off the papers.

So the papers could rot there forever? Crytek has no interest in funding a new Darksidets, they've been very clear on that.
 

Deadly Cyclone

Pride of Iowa State
I think the OP/title needs an update, new note from Nordic:

Nordic Games Group owner and CEO Lars Wingefors said the company had no intention of developing Darksiders 3 itself. Instead, it wants a studio with a proven track record to do it.

"We are not a developer," he said. "We should not create a sequel. We need to find the best creative team to look into a sequel. We will look into various options to make sequels.

Without saying we have been in contact with Crytek USA, I'd love to do something with them if we can find the right set-up

When asked whether Crytek USA was top of his list of potential Darksiders 3 developers, Wingefors replied: "They are the best-suited people in the world to make a sequel, that I'm aware of. But if someone else has a better set-up, they should step forward."

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...creators-about-darksiders-3?utm_source=feedly
 
Q

Queen of Hunting

Unconfirmed Member
everyone bitching that nordic games got the ip should sit back for a second and think if they got it then no one else bidded in the first fucking place. meaning your beloved franchise that had a shitty sequel would be even more dead.
 

Sentenza

Member
The fact that you, a shitty shovelware brand, acquired such a kick-ass quality franchise.
What's up with the hate for Nordic?
They are a new European publisher and they managing their business quite well so far, for what I can tell.
 

IHaveIce

Banned
everyone bitching that nordic games got the ip should sit back for a second and think if they got it then no one else bidded in the first fucking place. meaning your beloved franchise that had a shitty sequel would be even more dead.

Darksiders 2 wasn't that bad. I prefer a franchise to die in peace over a new publisher who may not get the old team on it and just throws a garbage sequel in the pool.
 

Jackano

Member
All of this is a little childish/amateurish. The main problem is that most of people discovered Nordic Games existed this morning.
Nordic Games should work hard in the next few days on a precise PR talking about them and about their general goals for the franchise, to help people in the industry and fans of DS to materialize the future of DS in their mind.

After that, finding the good developer is a pretty trivial thing to say, but IMO, I don't think they can't do a good job, being faithfull to a so young franchise, without hiring some key creative people from the former Vigil.
That said, this is exactly why I don't want to see Retro doing Zelda. Capturing the sense of a game is the hardest thing to do, and I think it's even impossible if all the team is an outsider to the franchise.
 
Q

Queen of Hunting

Unconfirmed Member
Darksiders 2 wasn't that bad. I prefer a franchise to die in peace over a new publisher who may not get the old team on it and just throws a garbage sequel in the pool.

or it could turn out better than darksiders 2 but everyone will still bitch and moan that there beloved darksiders franchise is dead
 

A Human Becoming

More than a Member
Outsource Darksiders 3 to Platinum or Crytek.

I want Darksiders 3 to be a third person shooter staring Strife. Darksiders 4 can be a Metroidvania starring Fury.
 
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