Former Diablo and World of Warcraft developers Julian Love and Jay Wilson have formed a new development studio, Gas Giant Games.
The news was announced through an official press release earlier today. Aside from Wilson and Love, THQs former Senior Vice President of Business Development and Director at Walt Disney Company, Dan Kelly, will serve as Chairman at the freshly-founded studio working on a new ARPG.
The studio aims to "build extraordinary entertaining games that provide kick-ass fun for us and our players". At the time of writing, the development team at Gas Giant Games consists of developers from various AAA franchises, including Dying Light, Dragon Age, Diablo, Overwatch, Gears of War, Cyberpunk 2077, World of Warcraft, Kingdom Hearts, Company of Heroes, and Warhammer Space Marine.
“Julian and I have together, and separately, delivered some of the best action, RPG, and strategy systems the game industry has ever seen", Jay Wilson explained upon the announcement of his new studio. I felt we could create new, outstanding game experiences if we teamed up, gathered the best developers we know, and applied those skills to games and game genres that we’re passionate about.”
"Action, RPG, and strategy systems are building blocks that can enhance just about any genre of game, and the past work of Gas Giant’s growing team shows they have the experience to know when, where, and how to use them", the rest of the official press release reads. "Surrounded by the best talent in the industry, Jay and Julian have brought in veterans from massively successful titles including Kingdom Hearts, Company of Heroes, Overwatch, Dragon Age 2, Space Marine, Cyberpunk 2077, Dying Light, Gears of War... and more. The team has spent the past two years developing several game concepts to find the game they most want to build."
Gas Giant Games will be present at this month's GDC event in San Fransico (which runs from March 20 through March 24). While the team isn't ready just yet to reveal their new ARPG just yet, the press release does mention that interested investors and publishers can get a private demonstration of the studio's upcoming title.
“While we’re not ready to reveal the full details of our in-progress project to the whole world just yet, we can say that fans of our past games will be stoked about what’s to come,” Wilson said. “I can tell you this: our game will deliver insane, visceral combat, engaging progression systems, and a unique survival experience—all wrapped into a new and original world that we’re sure you’ll love to explore.”
We'll update you as soon as more information about this studio's new ARPG comes in. For now, stay tuned.