Stig Asmussen, acclaimed director of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Survivor, has split from Respawn Entertainment and EA to create his own AAA game studio named Giant Skull. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor launched nearly a year ago to high praise from Star Wars fans and from gamers in general, going on to become one of the very best titles of the year, and leaving fans yearning for the series' confirmed third installment.

Before directing two of the best AAA Star Wars games ever made with Respawn Entertainment, Stig Asmussen spent nearly a decade at Sony's Santa Monica Studio, working on the original God of War games. Beginning as a lead environment artist for 2005's God of War debut, Asmussen became an art director for God of War 2, ultimately ending up as God of War 3's director. Leaving Santa Monica Studio in 2014, Asmussen joined up with EA's freshly created Respawn Entertainment, led by industry veteran Vince Zampella, to direct Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, helping to course correct EA's mishandling of its exclusive Star Wars gaming rights after two sourly received Star Wars: Battlefront games.

Several months after departing Respawn Entertainment in September 2023, Stig Asmussen has unveiled his own brand-new AAA studio based in Los Angeles, named Giant Skull. While still growing, the studio already has an impressive roster of developers, many of whom have worked with Asmussen in the past, either at Santa Monica Studio on the God of War series or at Respawn on the Star Wars Jedi games. Other Giant Skull team members come from Epic Games and Riot Games, having worked on massively popular live service titles like Valorant, Fortnite, and League of Legends.

Giant Skull is confirmed to be making a third-person AAA single-player action adventure title, which makes sense considering Asmussen and the team's prior experience building such games. The studio is also confirmed to be using Unreal Engine 5 for this debut title. Since EA's Star Wars exclusivity has ended, it's still possible for Asmussen and Giant Skull to work on a new Star Wars title, though it certainly wouldn't have any connection to Respawn's Jedi games. Star Wars or not, it'll be interesting to see if Giant Skull will self-publish its games or if it'll team up with a third-party publisher like 505 Games, Private Division, or Epic Games.

Since the studio is still forming, it will likely be several years before Giant Skull is ready to share what it's working on, and even longer until the game is ready to release. Fans of the original God of War games and of the recent Star Wars Jedi titles should be looking forward to seeing what Giant Skull has in store over the next several years.

Posted: Mar 17, 2024 3:20 pm
Related Forum: Gaming Discussion

Source: https://gamerant.com/star-wars-jedi-director-new-game-studio-giant-skull/