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Epic Baltimore now Impossible Studios, working on Infinity Blade: Dungeons
Impossible Studios is now the official name of Epic Baltimore, a group of developers saved following the 38 Studios implosion, which took out Big Huge Games in its wake. Under the direction of former Big Huge studio manager Sean Dunn, Impossible's first project is Infinity Blade: Dungeons for iOS, which was previously announced as a project under development at Epic's North Carolina studio."Epic Games has truly embraced this stellar collection of developers who were displaced by the closing of Big Huge Games," said studio director Sean 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."Epic Games President Mike Capps will lead an Infinity Blade: Dungeons panel with members of Impossible at DragonCon in Atlanta on August 31. The game is scheduled for release on iOS later this year.
Epic's Mark Rein on UE4, Epic Baltimore and Gears of War: Judgment
Given the engine's dynamic illumination features, it's only appropriate for Epic Vice President Mark Rein to start lighting up when he starts talking about Unreal Engine 4. We spoke to Rein on the last day of E3 about the engine's possibilities, and how its robust developer toolset addresses the dangerous costs of game development.Rein also comments on the multinational efforts behind Gears of War: Judgment (with special mention of People Can Fly's Creative Director, Adrian Chmielarz) and the recent addition of Epic Baltimore to the family.
Epic's Rein on Epic Baltimore and saving 'awesome guys' from 38 Studios' Big Huge Games
Epic Baltimore, the new studio formed by Epic Games from the senior staff of 38 Studios' Big Huge Games, was a surprise announcement this past Sunday. Well, it's not like there was much warning for anyone, really, as Epic's VP and co-founder Mark Rein explained to us today at E3, giving much of the credit regarding the studio's creation to Epic president Mike Capps."Mike is the total hero there. They called him on Wednesday, interested in using one of our IPs. He flew them up the next day and they met with a whole bunch of people, and the board of directors of Epic. We made the call right there: 'These guys are awesome, we need to work with them.'""We don't have a final headcount yet. It's a decent number," Rein replied when asked about how many of the approximately 100 employees of Big Huge Games were going to be employed by Epic Baltimore. He told us they already had 40 resumes from BHG employees before the deal even went through. "Many of the people there had already gone on to places. This was just the core group of really experience guys who already had savings saved up that they tried to build a team and find a deal."Rein also emphasized that they "wanted to work with one of Epic's IPs" and "it was a very good, natural fit."With Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning 2 already in pre-production, we asked if Rein had any interest in buying Amalur from Rhode Island?"We don't buy IP, we make IP."
Big Huge Games members picked up for Epic Baltimore
Epic Games will open up a new studio, Epic Baltimore, made up of members of 38 Studios' Big Huge Games. The new studio is made up of members of the team responsible for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, the only product the gutted 38 Studios was able to get to market."On Wednesday, the ex-BHG leadership team contacted us. They wanted to start a new company and keep together some of the key talent displaced by the layoff, and hoped that they could use an Epic IP as a starting point for a new game," Epic Games President Michael Capps wrote on the company's site. "We loved that they all wanted to keep working together, but it was pretty clear they'd have trouble building a demo and securing funding before their personal savings ran out."Capps went on to say that Epic had been coincidentally looking to create more projects, but needed an infusion of top talent to do so. The now unemployed top talent of Big Huge Games presented a good opportunity.He concludes that some more of the BHG refugees have been picked up by "Zynga East, Zenimax Online and other southeastern studios." The talent acquisition all but kills any chance of a Reckoning 2 – unless Epic buys the IP or has the team work on a similar project.
