Today, developer Epic Games announced its newest division, Impossible Studios, which is comprised of former employees of Big Huge Games.
Many employees from the now defunct studio found themselves without jobs when parent company 38 Studios experienced significant financial troubles early this year. A skipped loan payment and missed payroll led to layoffs at the developer, which declared bankruptcy and closed down in June.
Now Impossible Studios — which houses 36 employees in its office in Hunt Valley, Md., Epic told GamesBeat in an email — has welcomed those previously working under Big Huge Games’ roof.
Sean Dunn, who was the studio general manager at Big Huge Games, leads the studio as director and will oversee its first project: the touch-based action-role-playing game Infinity Blade: Dungeons for iOS. Impossible is developing the title in collaboration with Epic’s studio in Cary, N.C., and the Utah-based Chair Entertainment.
“Epic Games has truly embraced this stellar collection of developers who were displaced by the closing of Big Huge Games,” said Dunn. “They have looked after us with complete care, giving us all the tools and resources we need to make a lot of gamers happy.”
The past employees of Big Huge Games worked on releases such as the Rise of Nations titles for PC and Mac, Catan for Xbox Live Arcade, Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties for PC, and Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.
“We were so glad we could help keep this great team together, and we’re lucky to have them,” said Epic Games president Dr. Michael Capps, who will lead a panel about Infinity Blade: Dungeons with its lead designer, Ian Frazier, and author Brandon Sanderson at Dragon*Con on August 31. “At the time, I said that finding a full team of superstars was ‘impossible,’ and apparently the name stuck! Pairing the imagination and experience of Impossible with Epic’s technology, IP [intellectual properties], and resources makes for a business greater than the sum of its parts.”
Infinity Blade: Dungeons is set to release in the App Store later this year.