Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and God of War 3 director unveils new studio making "story immersed action-adventure games"
Giant Skull is an LA-based studio of industry veterans
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor's director has founded a brand new studio in LA full of industry veterans, and they're currently working on a new action-adventure game in Unreal Engine 5.
Former Sony and Respawn veteran Stig Asmussen is continuing to make games, this time as the boss of a new LA-based studio called Giant Skull. After heading up both Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and its sequel, Survivor, at Respawn over the past decade, Asmussen is now leading his own studio as its CEO.
"The Giant Skull studio culture is founded on creativity and curiosity," Asmussen says. "We have assembled a talented team renowned for immersive storytelling, heroic combat, and exhilarating traversal, and our goal is to craft a rich universe that players will want to lose themselves in for years to come."
Joining Asmussen on his new gig are veterans from across the games industry, including developers from Rocksteady, Epic Games, Rockstar, Sony Santa Monica, and Blizzard. Art director Patrick Murphy, lead producer Lauren McLemore, and animation director Brian Campbell all have Fortnite backgrounds.
Elsewhere, Jon Carr joins Giant Skull as its Chief Technical Officer after working alongside Asmussen on Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, as does former Respawn developer Jeff Magers, now working at Giant Skull as design director. Rounding out the new team is Chief Financial Officer Anthony Scott, who was at Unbroken Studios, developer of Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions.
As for what this prestigious team is building at Giant Skull? They're all working on a new action-adventure game in Unreal Engine 5 right now, although it's understandable very early in production. It's crucially a single-player game, which builds upon years of experience from various developers on the two Star Wars Jedi games at Respawn.
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Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.