:( That really sucks they did not deserve that fate.
Vigil Games
Company »
Vigil Games was a company known for the well-received Darksiders and its impressive sequel. The studio was closed in 2013 after it failed to draw a buyer during THQ's bankruptcy auction.
Vigil Entertainment is no more.
What the shit? I kinda assumed they'd be safe; they were certainly the only THQ developer I care about at all.
Now I'm depressed.
Man, this really makes me sad. I loved Darksiders 1, really enjoyed Darksiders 2, and was exceedingly excited for Darksiders 3, since it was supposed to be the 4 player co-op one.
They were/are great developers and I hope their talent is recognised and they can continue making great games. This is a sad day for the industry and for gamers. I highly recommend getting either of the Darksiders games, they are a great deal of fun and can be picked up very cheaply.
Too lazy to get the link but I believe the lead designer tweeted that Darksiders 3 would have been a 4 player co op game. Bummer they didn't get picked up.
It's a damn shame. I didn't like Darksiders 2 as much as the first but they didn't deserve to be canned over the possible bad sales of the sequel. Regardless his post is a very classy way to tie up the end. I suspect the industry is hitting a wall of accountability in face of the crazy budgets of the past decade and I hope it reforms in a manner that is sustainable. Best of luck to former Vigil staff.
Kind of a dick thing to say when it's jobs lost. I get that you're trolling but...come on.@Voxel said:
Haydn Dalton, lead designer for both Darksiders games, said that Darksiders III would have had 4 player coop. Shame it never saw the light of day.Thank god they wont be making it then.
@MariachiMacabre:I'm not trolling. Thank god. Couldn't careless about the jobs lost there talented enough to find work i wont be losing sleep over it and neither should you.
Unfortunately DS2 was a huge let down and never matched DS1. The difference was DS1 was a well crafted thought out game and DS2 was a giant mess that literally went no where (seriously by the end of DS2 you're right where you started at the end of DS1) so them going bigger and trying to work in 4 player co-op would of been horrible.
@J12088 said:
@MariachiMacabre:I'm not trolling. Thank god. Couldn't careless about the jobs lost there talented enough to find work i wont be losing sleep over it and neither should you.
Unfortunately DS2 was a huge let down and never matched DS1. The difference was DS1 was a well crafted thought out game and DS2 was a giant mess that literally went no where (seriously by the end of DS2 you're right where you started at the end of DS1) so them going bigger and trying to work in 4 player co-op would of been horrible.
The STORYLINE was a huge let down from Darksiders 1 to 2. But the actual gameplay was way better and more refined. I was disappointed by the story for 2 after loving it in 1, but the game was still really fun to play.
RIP Vigil.
That would have been great and in an alternate universe where 3D TVs really took off I could see Sony picking up some of THQ's studios. As it stands Sony doesn't have the cash, and they just shut down bigbig Studios, Zipper Interactive and Sony Liverpool last year.Kinda wondered why sony didn't bring them into sony santa monica to help them out with God of War
@momofire: The puzzles were non-existant as well. The bosses worse. The only upgrade was the combat system but frankly i wasn't playing DS1 cause of the combat. The combat did a good enough job that it kept me engaged.
If the trade off for a better combat system was the rest of the game suffers I'd rather they kept DS1 combat. Still doesn't matter. There gone now and maybe a new studio will rise up and try something new.
@J12088 said:
@MariachiMacabre:I'm not trolling. Thank god. Couldn't careless about the jobs lost there talented enough to find work i wont be losing sleep over it and neither should you.
Unfortunately DS2 was a huge let down and never matched DS1. The difference was DS1 was a well crafted thought out game and DS2 was a giant mess that literally went no where (seriously by the end of DS2 you're right where you started at the end of DS1) so them going bigger and trying to work in 4 player co-op would of been horrible.
Jesus Christ. It's fine if you're not a fan of Darksiders, but celebrating their loss of employment is an asshole move. If you've never been laid off before, you don't know how painful that is.
Sad news. Hopefully Vigil Entertainment is picked up by another publisher and the staff can find jobs at other studios.
@Hailinel said:
@J12088 said:
@MariachiMacabre:I'm not trolling. Thank god. Couldn't careless about the jobs lost there talented enough to find work i wont be losing sleep over it and neither should you.
Unfortunately DS2 was a huge let down and never matched DS1. The difference was DS1 was a well crafted thought out game and DS2 was a giant mess that literally went no where (seriously by the end of DS2 you're right where you started at the end of DS1) so them going bigger and trying to work in 4 player co-op would of been horrible.
Jesus Christ. It's fine if you're not a fan of Darksiders, but celebrating their loss of employment is an asshole move. If you've never been laid off before, you don't know how painful that is.
True, but he's forum trolling, so take it with a half a grain of salt.
@Yummylee said:
Man, that's tough to swallow. So what happens to Darksiders? Does one of the higher ups take it with them or does some other company now own the rights? I imagine we're not going to be hearing about a Darksiders III for an awfully long while, if ever.
The IP will go to one of the creditors, it's almost impossible to say which and will likely be someone who isn't involved in making games and will never do anything with the licence. It's now literally impossible for there to ever be a Darksiders 3, unless somebody buys the licence.. which they would have done during this auction, if they wanted it.
Darksiders 2 was an immensely disappointing game, both sales and gameplay-wise, which I imagine is why nobody wanted to touch it. It's a shame, because I think they shot themselves in the foot by making a side story, to try and flesh out the universe, instead of going right in and making a proper co-op sequel featuring all of the horsemen. It felt like such unnecessary filler that it was hard to really enjoy, but I think if they were giving the chance to do a third game, they could have really hit out of the park. Such a shame, I do feel bad for these guys.
A crying shame. I loved Darksiders and Darksiders 2, and was anticipating their take on Warhammer 40k. Dark Millenium was shaping up to be right up my alley. I think they scaled it down from a true MMO to a comined arms type of online multiplayer game, along the lines of Battlefield. That would have been baller!
RIP Vigil Games.
Really surprised that this is the one that didn't get bought. I honestly think Sega would have been a good fit for them, since they have a huge catalogue of IPs that they're not doing anything with and would have been fun for Vigil to play with.
@Dagbiker said:
If no one bought the rights to Darksiders then the Bank still owns it. And we will probably never see it again.
What's worse is that if this happens it's going to be way harder for people to go back and find it, just like with System Shock, because banks, insurance companies and credit agencies don't understand putting games for sale on Steam and making money off the properties they've been saddled with. :(
Kinda bummed out that this probably means that the Darksiders franchise is pretty much dead (unless someone resurrects it years from now). There was a lot of potential there. And also sad to see what are decent developers loose their jobs, likely because of just a few missteps with a single game, that then reduced the value of the team/ip.
Darksiders is one of my favourite games ever.
It combined a ton of the things from games I grew up with in the 90's and brought them together in an incredibly cohesive way.
That the second didn't quite match the first is sad given that they won't be producing a third, but it's still a hell of a game.
This is sad. Darksiders was great. The second game had some problems but it was still a lot of fun and showed that Vigil had a lot of promise for another game in them. I hope everybody there lands on their feet.
This is no place for a horse. Sigh.
What a goddamn shame. I think this happened because of THQ betting too big on the Darksiders franchise. It needed to be a big success and it wasn´t. Now it´s kinda considered a failure. Damn shame. I would have liked to see that story continued or even concluded.
@J12088 said:
so them going bigger and trying to work in 4 player co-op would of been horrible.
No it would probably have been awesome.
Another day, another developer. The industry is in a bit of a bad shape. I loved Darksiders, hope all them duders find new jobs and make more awesome games.
@Vonocourt said:
@TheStandardToaster said:
Kinda wondered why sony didn't bring them into sony santa monica to help them out with God of War
Ben Cureton( guy from OP and lead combat designer) may be heading to Sony Santa Monica.
Doesn't looks so, Platinum games is already contacting them and Hayden.
haydndalton hey man. If anyone is interested in working with/at Platinum let me know how to get ahold of you via DM.
verytragicPG_jphaydndalton Add me up. I'll send you my info via DM. =)
Also seen some tweets from Naughty Dog. Also hints of moving everyone from Vigil to Montreal via Ubisoft....eww but at least hope.
https://twitter.com/borbok
verytragic Ben if you or your colleagues are open to a relocation to Montreal let me know and we'll talk asap
Please Log In to post.
This edit will also create new pages on Giant Bomb for:
Beware, you are proposing to add brand new pages to the wiki along with your edits. Make sure this is what you intended. This will likely increase the time it takes for your changes to go live.Comment and Save
Until you earn 1000 points all your submissions need to be vetted by other Giant Bomb users. This process takes no more than a few hours and we'll send you an email once approved.
Log in to comment