Stig Asmussen's Giant Skull Studio Signed as Developer of Single-player Dungeons & Dragons IP

[T0@st]

Stig Asmussen formed Giant Skull not long after his departure from Respawn Entertainment. In a Spring 2024 announcement, the veteran developer—of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (2019) and God of War 3 (2010) fame—revealed a main goal: the creation of "gameplay-driven, story immersed" action adventure AAA games. In addition, the new outfit tasked themselves with the building of "captivating worlds." Yesterday, Wizards of the Coast revealed that Asmussen and colleagues were actively working on an unnamed single player experience, under the licensed "Dungeons & Dragons" banner. Unlike a current and very popular D&D title, Giant Skull's project will head down a different path. Since launching around late summer 2023, Baldur's Gate 3 has attracted critical acclaim and healthy sales figures—Larian's RPG partnership with Wizards of the Coast will not continue, as outlined a month and a half ago.

Giant Skull's untitled game remains a largely unknown quantity; early details include an Unreal Engine 5 foundation, and an eventual multi-platform release—on PC and consoles. A larger dose of official information will trickle out "at a later date." Asmussen provided a succinct statement of intent: "our talented and experienced team at Giant Skull is built on creativity and curiosity. Our goal is to craft a rich new Dungeons & Dragons universe filled with immersive storytelling, heroic combat and exhilarating traversal that players will fully embrace." John Hight—Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro digital gaming president—added: "Stig and the team at Giant Skull are exactly the type of exceptionally talented creators we want to work with, and I'm so happy to be reuniting with him on this new project. In our time working together on God of War I got to see firsthand Stig's artistry and expertise, and he and the Giant Skull team are the perfect fit for our new game. World building and storytelling is in our DNA, and this collaboration reflects our evolution and commitment to our Playing to Win Strategy, building a stronger presence in digital play. We look forward to revealing more about this brand-new Dungeons & Dragons game in the future."



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[azrael]

Never heard of Stig Asmussen. With that name it sounds like he's from Denmark, though. As for his (or rather, his studio's) goals, I sincerely hope that "gameplay-driven, story immersed" won't end up being "identity-driven, inclusion immersed" in stead. For now, I wish him good luck (and the same to us).

 

[Deleted member 247823]

Never heard of Stig Asmussen. With that name it sounds like he's from Denmark, though. As for his (or rather, his studio's) goals, I sincerely hope that "gameplay-driven, story immersed" won't end up being "identity-driven, inclusion immersed" in stead. For now, I wish him good luck (and the same to us).

He's American

 

[Caring1]

He's American

Woosh

 

[Vayra86]

This could go any number of ways. Not holding my breath. We can at least safely forget a true sequel to BG3, so let's curb the enthusiasm. OTOH, a lot of D&D RPGs turned out well. An equal amount turned out like something you don't even want to install. Its remarkably similar to games based on Warhammer like that.

If its going to be a pseudo RPG that is actually an action game? They might as well transfer the money to my bank account so its better spent, instead. Nobody is going to care about that and every action oriented D&D installment is a massive fail.

 

[Mr. Stein]

Gimme some new Neverwinter Nights, one of the very few games I have really enjoyed. Been through the original 3 times. I would love to travel with Linu the clumsy cleric again

 

[Hereticbar]

Never heard of Stig Asmussen. With that name it sounds like he's from Denmark, though. As for his (or rather, his studio's) goals, I sincerely hope that "gameplay-driven, story immersed" won't end up being "identity-driven, inclusion immersed" in stead. For now, I wish him good luck (and the same to us).

What's wrong with "identity-driven, inclusion immersed"?

 

[Vayra86]

What's wrong with "identity-driven, inclusion immersed"?

It invites puke buckets and even for me, as a promoter of free choice and do/be whatever the hell you want with your life, don't want to get that bullshit shoved into creative content everywhere I look.

Art is art, it should be its own thing, not hung up on whatever is the formula in the soundbites that sells today. It ceases to be art at that point, and becomes a political statement which is not where games need to go. If the game is meant to be a statement like that, sure, knock yourself out and make the most of it. But most games aren't, they just throw it in the mix because it generates clicks.

For the same reason I don't buy that bullshit, I don't check social media. Its all poison and it immediately detracts from what games are: entertainment, escapism. Seriously, screw the real world when I'm gaming. I don't want to be reminded while I play that we're devolving into nonsense as a species.

On top of that baseline, surely you can see the vast majority of games that are 'driven by' this nonsense are empty shells, rehashing the same archetypes over and over, except now they're more 'diverse'... except the same in every game you look at. Its a big box of nothing, for gullible idiots that believe this is how change happens. Spoiler alert, it won't happen, this is not how that works, all it creates is more polarized camps. You need just one look at the headlines of a random news day to see that. It comes down to the simple fact that if you keep annoying large groups of people, they'll strike back - and that goes both ways. But none of that is about gaming, is it...