Star Wars Jedi: Survivor director Stig Asmussen starts new studio, Giant Skull
After a boom of video game studio foundings, acquisitions, and developer recruiting in the late 2010s and early 2020s, the industry is headed in the opposite direction. Acquisitions have slowed down, layoffs happen multiple times a week, and news of canceled projects and studio closures has overtaken that of studio announcements. During this time, an industry veteran and game director behind titles like God of War 3 and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor has started a new studio
Stig Asmussen left Respawn Entertainment in September 2023. At the time, we didn’t know what was next, but this morning, Asmussen announced that he had founded a new studio called Giant Skull alongside veterans from companies like Respawn Entertainment and Epic Games. That team is now at one on creating its first title, an action-adventure game that Giant Skull is keeping under wraps for now. Prior to the announcement, I spoke with Asmussen to learn more about this AAA studio emerging at a time when the video game industry is struggling.
No regrets
“This idea of being able to start a studio from the ground up with really good people and to be able to define the culture, the types of games that we’re going to make, and the types of players that we want to speak to, it really resonated with me,” Asmussen tells Digital Trends. “I just couldn’t let it go.”
From my conversation with Asmussen, it became clear that this isn’t a former AAA developer attempting to strike out on his own for a small independent production. He was reached out to with a studio-founding opportunity — something that’s getting increasingly rare for video game developers — and Asmussen decided to embrace it. He tells us leaving Respawn was a “difficult decision” because he was happy working there and not trying to “run away from anything.”
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