Giant Skull, the AAA game studio established in 2014 by God of War and Star Wars Jedi director Stig Asmussen, doesn’t intend to morph into an enormous development studio. Giant Skull announced a deal with Wizards of the Coast to create a “new” Dungeons & Dragons action/adventure game this past June.
Giant Skull is “locals only,” Asmussen told The Game Business, with its employee roster weighing in at about 35 and likely to stay that way for some time to come. We would never be 500 big.” “I don’t see us scaling up to be giant.” He added, “We don’t want to get to the point where it’s unwieldy.” Asmussen said that Giant Skull will be taking an outsourcing-heavy approach to keep the studio efficient and nimble.
The studio will feature outsourcing as a major component of the work process. If you don’t outsource a lot, you’re going to get passed in this industry, Asmussen said. The trick, he said, is only working with partners that have the same vision of the studio. Giant Skull is already outsourcing with professional teams to complement its in-house skills.
Giant Skull is also receiving direct support from Wizards of the Coast. Wizards of the Coast president John Hight told me the publisher has an internal artist- and worldbuilding-focused content creation team now in place for all of its premium games. Everything from Giant Skull D&D to anything else will be built on Unreal Engine 5. It will enable a sustainable level of quality art and design through this shared talent pool, without huge, permanent in-house teams.
This prevents impressive artists from getting bottlenecked creatively, and this keeps people employed, so it avoids additional costs, Right? Hight explained. Having the same art team on many of their fantasy and sci fi projects guarantees experience and consistency.
Timelines will be all up to Wizards of the Coast and there would be no rush for Giant Skull. According to Hight, however, the game is still “at least three years away from release,” indicating the longer, more methodical process heading forth.
As shown by Giant Skull’s passionate strategy—being small but having mighty partners—Giant Skull is all about quality over quantity. The studio is committed to quality, using a core team while outsourcing a few aspects, and support from Wizards of the Coast to fulfill a full Dungeons & Dragons without losing the vision.
FAQ
Today, Giant Skull has roughly 35 team members and intends to be a small-team studio moving forward.
Dungeons & Dragons is getting an action/adventure game, in development at Giant Skull, powered by Unreal Engine 5.
Apparently, the game is still three years away from being finished.
No, the studio will stay small, by design, with outsourcing and Wizards of the Coast support.
