Crytek signed several core staff members from Darksiders developer Vigil Games in order to form a new Austin, Texas based studio.
According to a new report from video game website Gamasutra, the new Crytek USA Corp. will be headed by former Vigil GM and co-owner David Adams and will feature "35 experienced developers" consisting of "some of the brightest development talent in the industry."
Full details about the studio have not yet been revealed, but Crytek representative Jens Schafer told Gamsutra that Crytek USA is "more like a new start for [the team at Vigil]."
CVG reports that in response to the article, former THQ president Jason Rubin tweeted that the story was great news for the core members of Vigil.
"Great news for Vigil, at least the core team," said Rubin via Twitter. "Thanks to Crytek for saving as much as they could of a fantastic team."
Rubin added, "The Darksiders and Red Faction IP have not been auctioned yet," which means that the Darksiders intellectual property still remains with THQ.
Last week after the THQ auction, Platinum Games, the developer of Bayonetta, informally expressed interest in purchasing the rights to the Darksiders' franchise and also offered jobs to former Vigil Games employees. But no news has come out of that statement.
During the auction, various game companies including, Sega, Koch Media, Crytek, Take Two Interactive, and Ubisoft purchased numerous studios and intellectual properties from the now defunct THQ.
Crytek also purchased the Homefront IP from THQ at the auction and will let Crytek UK finish the first-person shooter sequel to Kaos Studios' 2011 game.
"The worst case scenario for us was that this situation meant that all that work just ended up being thrown into the bin, so we wanted to buy the IP to make sure the team can finish off the game they wish to make," Crytek general manager of games NickButton-Brown told VG 24/7 in a recent interview. "It's now beneficial for us to have control over the IP's destiny."
