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RIP Vigil Games (2005-2013)

J

Jinaar

Member
Dammit man, tell me about the f'n golf shoes!?!? I mean WH40K Dark Millenium?!?!?! What do you know?!?! ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

*btw, love you all for DS1+DS2.*
 
X

Xater

Member
As someone who really enjoyed the Darksiders games Inam super bummed about this. I a. Especially sad that I will now never see the end of the first game realized in a sequel.
 
N

Nicktock

Neo Member
This a bummer. Such a talented team really deserved to stick together. They'll defintiely find work again, but man :(

On a selfish note, I was really looking forward to the four player co-op game that was going to be Darksiders 5: All the Darksiders.
 
R

Retro_

Unconfirmed Member
tragic said:
My name is Ben Cureton, and I was the Lead Combat Designer at Vigil Games. I'm sitting at my desk among... what appears to be a warzone. The walls look bare. It's quiet.

The seats are empty.

We've all been on edge for the past couple months... and more so, the last couple weeks. I mean, I'm sure you can imagine what it's like to wonder if you will have a job tomorrow. Most of us here joked about it just to keep the mood light, but we all knew what could happen. Now I look around and I realize... it did happen.

Am I sad? Well yea. I've been in this industry for 20 years. Seriously. Two decades. I've been laid off more than once. It sucks every time. But am I sad I don't have a job? Not really... I'm sure I'll get another one eventually. I'm sad because it won't be THIS job. It won't be at Vigil. That's why I'm sad. The people I waged war with are no longer together. The people that I bled with, vented with, argued with (often times LOUDLY), and kicked back with... these people will never be together again in the same combination.

Not that it was perfect. But what is perfect? Did I like coming to work? Yes. Was I proud of the work that I did? Yes. More importantly, was I proud of the work that WE did? Absolutely. I knew, without a shadow of the doubt, that the project we were working on (Codenamed: Crawler) was going to blow people away. In fact, it DID blow people away. We did, in TWO months, what many companies haven't done in a year. The pride of knowing that no one was doing anything like us was so satisfying, it kept us coming to work and giving 100% every single day, even through the dark times.

... so maybe you can imagine what it feels like when you read the list of who bought what only to discover your name is not on the list. Why? Did we do something wrong? Were we not good enough? Were we not worth 'anything?' Imagine that.

Vigil was filled with people that I would put up against the best in the industry. People that made my work better, people that made me a better designer, and people that made me a better person. And now they are gone.

Their seats are empty.

It's OK, though. I guess this post makes it sound a bit melodramatic. Seriously... if you work in the video game industry you have to be resilient. Doing what you love often comes with a price - anyone who has been around for a while can tell you that. Today, that price has been paid. That being said, I'd still never dissuade anyone from following their dreams if their dream is to make video games. While it's not as romantic as it sounds, it's sure a hell of a lot of fun.

So don't cry for the people at Vigil. We made games for game players. I have no Horror stories from working here... only Honor stories. Through both praise and critiques alike, our goal was always to make a product as if we, ourselves, were the end-user. We may have gotten pushed and pulled in certain directions by forces out of our control, we were always in it to make games for game players. And that's what we did.

I can only hope that those spared from the other companies remain employed long into the future. There is not much worse than false hope, and these people deserve to continue making great games. You may not know their names, but they exist, and they bleed, sweat, and cry for your entertainment. I mean that honestly, with no negativity. They do it... no, WE do it... because we want you to have a good time.

In closing, I can only say thank you to the fans of Vigil games. Your support means more than you can imagine. Your feedback (both positive and negative) gave us long-lasting insight that we will all take with us, wherever we may go. You are the reason we made Darksiders 1 &2... and you are the reason we will continue to make games.

And with that... my seat is empty.


Ben Cureton
Lead Combat Designer
Vigil Games


P.S. This is no place for a horse.
Click to expand...

All I can say is thank you for your enthusiasm and transparency when interacting with fans during Darksiders 2 promotion.

It's what sold me on the product, that I ultimately enjoyed quite a bit.

I know you'll land on your feet I just hope it's at a place that will allow you the same level of interaction you had with us at Vigil

Wish you and everyone else involved with Vigil the best going forward. Thank you for the games
 
D

dab0ne

Member
Oh man! Loved Darksiders! Loved Darksiders 2 on PC! Is there any chance for a "Crawler" Kickstarter? is the IP owned? Would love to see what that game was all about. Good luck to you all.
 
C

Corto

Member
Godspeed Ben. Thanks for all the hours of pure honest fun that I had with your creations. Be sure that I'll be following you (not stalking ;) )wherever you will go. And of course, all the luck for the rest of the team.
 
N

NaviLink

Member
I bought the first Darksiders for cheap a while after it came out, going in with that description of "it's Zelda meets comics and it's pretty good".

I was actually blown away by the game, in the end. I enjoyed it a lot. It was long, it was well done, it was fun, it mixed together all kind of things and it worked really good. The universe had a feel of its own, and it was obvious expansion was inevitable.

That's when I started waiting for Darksiders 2 like a madman, hyped by the shitload of new additions and Death, of course. For some reason I still haven't played it, but I will fix that ASAP.

I hope you guys and gals at Virgil will land on your feet, and maybe one day I'll work with some of you if I have my way. Thanks for the great work.
 
Z

Zocano

Member
I find myself incredibly moved and upset over this news and reading Ben's post just hurts even more.

You guys, Ben and everyone you worked with at Vigil, made two fantastic games and I am nigh on shedding tears having to accept that I'll never get to play another game crafted by the same team. Best of luck to everyone at Vigil at finding a good loving place to work at and continuing to help make more great games.

You guys and gals will be missed.
 
M

Meatvillain

Banned
I fucking loved both Darksiders games. Both were flawed but both were also amazing in their own ways. Vigil had so much potential, I couldn't wait to see what they would do next and how they would grow as a studio, they really seemed on the cusp of greatness. This is a damn shame.
 
S

skarabrae

Banned
Having been only a temp in QA and couldn't make it any way past that in the industry, I can feel even more so with people who're like Ben who've worked so hard to make some incredible games in their career... who've paid their dues to be able to create something with the utmost passion.

Ben, thank you for all the fantastic work you and your friends did on the entire Darksiders franchise. You've made a dent in gaming like no other, and I only hope that more people will discover the magic you guys made. Wishing you much luck in the future. ~
 
N

NMFried

Member
I'm just at a loss for a few things:

1.) Why none of the big three, especially Nintendo, didn't jump at the chance to purchase Vigil? (Price would have been seemingly 'cheap' and Darksiders 2 had a version specially developed for their new system).

2.) Why were there not many big hitters in general with this auction? Take-Two or Squeenix for Saints? Nope, a publisher I find synonymous with SouthPeak.
 
H

Hindle

Banned
All of the staff who worked on Darksiders should have no problem finding work. The art direction and environments especially were incredible.
 
Fox Mulder

Fox Mulder

Member
A shitty situation and another casualty of an industry that doesn't seem healthy. I've been meaning to try Darksiders but never got around to it.
 
B

ban25

Member
Reallink said:
Any ideas why you guys couldn't find a buyer? Was the studio and and IP even on the auction? Were there a bunch of costly stipulations for a sell (e.g. maintain current lease/location, personnel, and salaries)? Did you guys lose a lot of your key talent during and post DS2?
Click to expand...

Well, consider that unlike the other studios, Vigil did not have a game in active development and nearing completion. The fact that they had just shipped DS2 is probably what resulted in the lack of interest among potential buyers. If they were six months from shipping a title, then clearly it makes sense to pick up the IP and the team at a discount rate. But, if there's no title in the near future, and the performance of the one that just shipped was mediocre, then why buy the studio? The individual talent can be picked up on an ad-hoc basis.

It's different for Volition. Deep Silver picks them up for $22MM, spends maybe another $10-15MM to release the SR4, and if it does well, maybe makes 2-3x back on their total investment.
 
C

checkeredknight

Member
Good luck to Ben and the rest of the team. This is seriously very sad. You guys are awesome and the experiences you've created will still be enjoyed by many. To better days.
 
D

DocSeuss

Member
I haven't been this sad about a studio closing since every time people remind me about Looking Glass and that time I read about someone showing up to cart all of FASA's stuff away.

Maybe Epic would buy Vigil, if the right overtures were made. They had no issues picking up Big Huge Games.
 
A

Aquamarine

Member
Tensketch said:
Yeah I mean is there absolutely ZERO chance this being turned around?
Click to expand...

Vigil is dead. Even if someone else does make Darksiders 3, everyone at Vigil has been laid off.

They're all looking for work. Some staff will get picked up by various studios...the studio equipment will get sold off...some of the staff will relocate...others will find contract work in Austin.

It's gone. Any further Darksiders sequel will never be the same.

I assume the Darksiders IP is going to remain at THQ's shell company, up for anyone who wants to buy it along with any of THQ's legacy IPs.
 
T

The Illiterati

Member
I only bought three games on release date this year to support the developers:

Kingdoms of Amalur. Dead.
Darksiders 2. Dead.
Sleeping Dogs. LET THEM LIE!

I really know how to pick em!
 
D

Darkflight

Member
Image%202013-01-24%20at%2012.10.29%20AM.png


Google Translate gives me:

Seriously "DARKSIDERS" in the auction sale of THQ Studio & IP rose I remained unsold. Cheap ... I want to buy ...
Click to expand...
 
Duxxy3

Duxxy3

Member
sflufan said:
You assume correctly, along with Destroy All Humans, Titan Quest, Homeworld, Red Faction, etc.
Click to expand...

Homeworld was bought by Crytek.

It's crazy that titan quest, red faction and darksiders are available. They aren't huge franchises but if they're given a moderate budget, they could make money.

edit: fuck, i meant homefront
 
Jawmuncher

Jawmuncher

Member
How much you think they'll sell darksiders to me for. I got 50 dollars buy now.

In all seriousness if the deal doesn't happen will the darksiders writers tell us the story of the next 2 games?
 
G

grebby

Member
Man, it is just such a bummer. This industry can be brutal. One game that doesn't sell so hot and you're out. I respected the work Vigil did and it's very sad that they won't get another shot at a game, particularly the project they were working on.

Wishing everyone at Vigil good luck.
 
R

rdrr gnr

Member
I would love if Platinum purchased the IP. They would need someone to write the story however -- and salvage what they can. Maybe drop Strife and Fury (worst part of the series) and do something great. I'll take anything at this point.
 
T

Tensketch

Member
Jawmuncher said:
How much you think they'll sell darksiders to me for. I got 50 dollars buy now.

In all seriousness if the deal doesn't happen will the darksiders writers tell us the story of the next 2 games?
Click to expand...

I'd be happy if this happened. Just so we knew how it would end.

not as happy as actually getting another game, mind.
 
D

Diomedeskun

Member
I haven't played part 2 yet, but I loved Darksiders. I was upset that I didn't quite finish it before I moved to Japan and left my gaming PC in the states. This is unfortunate news. I had high expectations of the studio's future products.
 
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