Just read this on Eurogamer. Fantastic news for ex Kingdoms of Amalur devs. Epic has announced that, after negotiating with the management team of Big Huge Games, a number of former BHG employees will be hired to form the core of a brand new studio Epic will be opening in Baltimore.
For those that don't know: BHG were the studio largely responsible for the first Amalur. They were working on the basic game sans the generic Salvatore fantasy, when startup MMO dev 38 Studios rocked up and saved them from going under. Schilling had them re-brand the game with the Amalur IP and release it as a prelude to the now stillborn Copernicus project.
Epic president Mike Capps -
[blockquote]"It'll take a while to find space, set up desks and PCs, purchase sufficient Nerf weaponry and Dr. Pepper, etc. But some of these folks have been going too long without a paycheck to wait for that. So, as soon as we can, we're going to try to get people working down here at Epic headquarters in Cary, NC as contractors," wrote Capps.
"There's a million things to work out. How many of the team can we hire? What will it be called? What will they be working on? We don't know all the answers yet. Please give us some time to figure it out; we hope to have more to share soon.[/blockquote]
Awesome turn of events for at least some of the hundreds of people out of work! They get to continue working with people they know without having to move too far. You have to wonder what a team with their experience will be put to work on. Hopefully not another Gears of War-alike. I'm not a big fan of Epic games but there is a lot of potential here from the makers of Unreal Engine. Either way BHG were a talented studio even if their fortunes have been pretty unlucky of late.
For those that don't know: BHG were the studio largely responsible for the first Amalur. They were working on the basic game sans the generic Salvatore fantasy, when startup MMO dev 38 Studios rocked up and saved them from going under. Schilling had them re-brand the game with the Amalur IP and release it as a prelude to the now stillborn Copernicus project.
Epic president Mike Capps -
[blockquote]"It'll take a while to find space, set up desks and PCs, purchase sufficient Nerf weaponry and Dr. Pepper, etc. But some of these folks have been going too long without a paycheck to wait for that. So, as soon as we can, we're going to try to get people working down here at Epic headquarters in Cary, NC as contractors," wrote Capps.
"There's a million things to work out. How many of the team can we hire? What will it be called? What will they be working on? We don't know all the answers yet. Please give us some time to figure it out; we hope to have more to share soon.[/blockquote]
Awesome turn of events for at least some of the hundreds of people out of work! They get to continue working with people they know without having to move too far. You have to wonder what a team with their experience will be put to work on. Hopefully not another Gears of War-alike. I'm not a big fan of Epic games but there is a lot of potential here from the makers of Unreal Engine. Either way BHG were a talented studio even if their fortunes have been pretty unlucky of late.
