Immortals Of Aveum staff join new studio from ex-GTA boss Dan Houser-Adam Starkey-Entertainment – Metro

Immortals Of Aveum missed its shot (Electronic Arts)

Many of the team behind the ill-fated Immortals Of Aveum have joined a new studio at Absurd Ventures, including the game’s director Bret Robbins.

Immortals Of Aveum became one of the biggest financial flops of last year, which resulted in nearly half of the staff at developer Ascendant Studios being laid off just a month after it launched.

This was followed by reports of a further 40 staff being furloughed in April this year, leaving it unclear how many people actually remain at Ascendant. In April 2023, more than 100 people were said to be employed at the studio.

The studio’s co-founder, Bret Robbins, who was the director behind Immortals Of Aveum, has now announced he’s joined a new studio under Absurd Ventures – the company founded by former Rockstar boss Dan Houser.

The new studio, named Absurd Marin, is based in San Rafael, California and will be led by Robbins. Before founding Ascendant, he was best known for being the creative director on the original Dead Space and working on Call Of Duty titles at Sledgehammer Games.

A spokesperson for the studio (via GamesIndustry.biz) said ‘about 20 developers from the core team behind Immortals Of Aveum’ are now part of Absurd Marin. It’s said the team will ‘continue to staff up further as development progresses on the project’.

Absurd Marin is working on a story-driven adventure game based on an unannounced IP, which is said to be in the early stages of development. This is a separate project from Absurd Ventures’ previously announced title set in the new A Better Paradise universe, which recently started life as an audio fiction series.

‘We love the focus on storytelling and world building at Absurd Ventures,’ Bret Robbins said about the announcement. ‘We are thrilled to team up and bring our combined expertise to work on an original game set in an incredibly fun new universe.’

Following the departure of the studio’s co-founder, it’s unclear whether Ascendant Studios will continue to function with a new CEO. Ascendant was originally formed in partnership with businessman Brian Sheth, who is presumably still involved.

Absurd Ventures, meanwhile, was formed by Dan Houser in June last year. It’s described as a multimedia studio and, along with the A Better Paradise audio series, has announced projects across games and graphic novels.

Houser is best known as the co-founder of Rockstar Games, alongside his brother, Sam. During his time at the studio, he served as a lead writer across the GTA series, both Red Dead Redemption games, Max Payne 3, and many others.

Immortals Of Aveum leaned on magic (Electronic Arts)

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