Crystal Dynamics Assembles Veterans from Naughty Dog, Visceral Games, and More for The Avengers Project
Last year Crystal Dynamics, best known as the developer of the Tomb Raider games, announced the development of a new game based on Marvel’s Avengers. News on the game, currently codenamed the Avengers Project, has been nearly nonexistent since the announcement was made. However, today they announced the assembling of their own team of veterans, picking up developers from Naughty Dog, and the recently closed Visceral Games.
Crystal Dynamics was proud to announce their addition of 15 top industry talents, highlighting the pick up of former Naughty Dog Creative Director Shaun Escayg, and Stephen Barry a 27 year veteran from EA/Visceral Games.
Formerly the Creative Director and writer of Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, Shaun Escayg now joins Crystal Dynamis as The Avengers Project’s new Creative Director. When asked about how it felt to be a part of the team Escayg said, “I’m thrilled to join Crystal as Creative Director and be aligned with a team as passionate about telling great character based stories as I am.”
From Visceral Studio, Stephen Barry, who most recently held the role of Director of Product Development, will join the team s the new Director of Production. During his time with EA/Visceral Games, Barry worked on several acclaimed gamed including the space-thriller, Dead Space. Barry shared his excitement for joining the team, “Crystal’s been around almost as long as I’ve been in the business. The immediate chemistry and camaraderie has been exactly what I’d hoped for.”
While the new additions could possibly be read as a sign that The Avengers Project is still a ways off. Seeing such a strong creative team form around the project is a promising sight.
“We’re committed to delivering an incredible, completely original Avengers experience to our gamers, and that means we are always looking to add amazing developers to our existing best in class studio talent,” said Scot Amos, Co-Head of Studio at Crystal Dynamics. “As development progresses, our studio continues to grow. The tremendous progress we’ve made on The Avengers project further drives us toward our goal of crafting something all Marvel fans will be proud of, and will play for years to come. We can’t wait to show you what we mean in the future.”
“We recently hired fifteen world-renowned industry veterans, spanning production leadership, animation, design, art and engineering, who have previously worked on games such as Batman: Arkham Origins, Dead Space, Star Wars: Battlefront and many more.” said Ron Rosenberg, Co-Head of Studio at Crystal Dynamics. “Their AAA experience adds to an already deep roster, making us well-positioned to deliver on the ambitious goals we’ve set for ourselves with The Avengers project. It’s a stellar addition of many people who fit incredibly well into our wheelhouse of building game experiences we all love.”
More details on The Avengers Project are expected to be revealed in 2018.
Source: Crystal Dynamics
