Vigil Games Closes Down After Not Being Sold Off in the THQ Auction - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 23 January 2013 / 12,778 Views
Vigil Games which was apart of THQ went up for auction along with all the other THQ studios and assets. While most developers have been bought up, Vigil Games was not able to find a buyer and it now must shut down.
"We've all been on edge for the past couple months... and more so, the last couple weeks," said Vigil Games Lead Combat Designer Ben Cureton in an open letter. "I mean, I'm sure you can imagine what it's like to wonder if you will have a job tomorrow. Most of us here joked about it just to keep the mood light, but we all knew what could happen. Now I look around and I realize... it did happen."
"Vigil was filled with people that I would put up against the best in the industry," Cureton added. "People that made my work better, people that made me a better designer, and people that made me a better person. And now they are gone."
"So don't cry for the people at Vigil," he continued. "We made games for game players. I have no Horror stories from working here... only Honor stories. Through both praise and critiques alike, our goal was always to make a product as if we, ourselves, were the end-user."
"I can only hope that those spared from the other companies remain employed long into the future. There is not much worse than false hope, and these people deserve to continue making great games."
Studios that were purchased include Relic which was purchased by Sega, and Volition who was purchased by Koch Media. Crytek also agreed to purchase the Homefront franchise and is currently developing a sequel. Take Two agreed to purchase Evolve and Ubisoft purchase THQ Montreal and Obsidian's South Park.
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Even Homefront was bought and you're telling me no one wanted the opportunity to make Darksiders games? A little too hard to believe.
Homefront sold better, has a sequel already in development, and has more potential to be a success. Even a bad military shooter tends to sell well.
I'd imagine someone wants the the Darksiders IP, just not the studio.
I bought Darksiders 1 & 2... I even bought Darksiders 2 on Wii U. Not sure why no other self-respecting "gamers" got behind the game enough to save Vigil. I guess now they can play even more Call of Duty or Madden or whatever.
Well that's a little biased. I'm what you would call a gamer, but I didn't buy them because I didn't like them. I played the first one and just felt it wasn't as good as the games it drew inspiration from (namely God of War and Zelda). So just because a studio isn't doing well doesn't mean every gamer has to go and buy their games even if they don't even like it.
i'm fucking piseed
That makes no sense, Darksiders was one of THQ's bigger IP's. The hell?
I think to get the IP they had to buy the studio as well. Perhaps nobody wanted to take that on given the modest sales of Darksiders 2.
This is rather sad news.
Vigil just shipped DS2, so the new owner would have had to fund a new game from scratch, unlike with Relic and Volition, where they got games well into production for peanuts. Darksiders sales do not justify investing AAA budget -as much as I hate to say it. Gamers chose not to buy DS2, and sealed Vigil's fate. My heart is broken.
I agree this is bull$hit!!! Nintendo better step up and pick up the IP or else!!!
Weird.. no one bid for even one dollar? I would've done it.
I don't think these auctions work that way. My guess is there is starting bid price and they have to take on the studio.
And how long would you have been able to pay the salaries of everyone at Vigil games? It's not enough to own the studio, you also need to be able to meet the payroll.
There are minimum bids, you can´t bid lower values than the starting bids...
There are minimum bids, you can´t bid lower values than the starting bids...
There are minimum bids, you can´t bid lower values than the starting bids...
Good luck to them, their ZELDA ON STEROIDS approach will be missed. Another sad day in gaming. That´s what fanboysm bring us guys, this I HATE X, I HATE Y, I HATE Z stuff is tearing a lot of lifes apart. Imagine when Sony goes bankrupcy, dozens of studios will be closed overnight... Let us just appreciate each company for what they do best and let the hate aside.
Long live SONY, MICROSOFT, NINTENDO and all the 3rd party people too.
what a crying shame!! I haven't picked up DS2 yet, but that's because I don't even have a Wii U yet... I was gunna to Vigil, I was gunna to! :(
I find it very odd that no one wanted to pay anything for at least the franchises? Was there a high minimum bid, or something like that? I've got a few thousand euros, I'd pay that to hold the Darksiders franchise.
I would think that the studio was the thing to buy, just not the game. Game sold poorly but it was reviewed as fantastic on three of its platforms.
Darksiders 2 is an awesome game on Wii U. Having a great time with it. 20 hours in so far...love it. Sad to see talent like that let go and split up.
I'm sure it a mixture of two things that kept people away from both IPs. One Darksiders 3 wasn't very far into development. There were tweets about what they were planning for the title. And two they where one of the biggest IPs and in this economy you don't really want to bid high so they didn't bid at all. The auctions are usually closed envelope auctions so you don't know what the other buyers and bidding or even if they biding.
@oni-link (won't lt me post this as a reply)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigil_Games
You may be in luck. Look at the bottom of the history section in the link. May just be a rumour, but apparently Platinum Games want to buy the Darksiders IP. Now what others games do they make....? ;)
Out of curiosity, what happens to Darksiders II dlc now? Clearly its not going to be reduced in price but where does the money go if both THQ and Vigil are gone?
The in charge of the sell off. I'm pretty sure the sale today didn't cover the debt that THQ was in, most auctions like they don't. And who ever picks up the Darksiders IP, Platinum seems interested and has reached out to the developers to have them work at Platinum.
