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Airship Syndicate

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Airship Syndicate Entertainment, Inc.
Company typePrivate
IndustryVideo games
FoundedSeptember 25, 2014; 10 years ago (2014-09-25)
Founder
Headquarters
Austin, Texas
,
U.S.
Key people
Number of employees
40 (2019)
Websitewww.airshipsyndicate.com

Airship Syndicate Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game development company based in Austin, Texas. Founded by several ex-Vigil Games staff including Joe Madureira and Ryan Stefanelli, in 2014, Airship Syndicate is most known for developing Battle Chasers: Nightwar (2017), Darksiders Genesis (2019) and Ruined King: A League of Legends Story (2021).

History

[edit]
Joe Madureira co-founded the studio.

Vigil Games, the creator of the Darksiders series, was shut down after publisher THQ declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The co-founders of Vigil Games, Joe Madureira returned to work for Marvel Comics, while Ryan Stefanelli joined Crytek USA and worked on Hunt: Horrors of the Gilded Age. After Hunt's development was rebooted by Crytek and Madureira finished his work on the comics, the two, alongside ex-Vigil Games animator Steve Madureira, decided to start an independent studio with a small team, as they felt that Vigil grew to become too big.[1] When they were choosing the studio's name, they initially considered using the name "Chaotic Evil", but they dropped the name after realizing that it was once used by a porn site.[2] According to Madureira, they ultimately decided to use the title "Airship Syndicate" instead, since the title reflected a "vibe of exploration and otherworldly technologies".[1]

After the company's establishment, it quickly began developing a dungeon crawling game, which was described by the team as a "love letter" to JRPG.[3] Initially set to be a new intellectual property (IP), the game was later set in the Battle Chasers universe, which was created by Madureira. Madureira had reservations since he considered Battle Chasers to be an old comic book series and he was unsure if "fans would care".[2] Nonetheless, when Battle Chasers: Nightwar launched on Kickstarter, it earned more than $850,000, surpassing its initial goal of $500,000. The team expanded since the scope of the project increased significantly during the course of development. The game was released in October 2017 by THQ Nordic and it was both a critical and commercial success.[2]

After the successful release of Battle Chasers: Nightwar, the studio began pitching to THQ Nordic, the owner of the Darksiders IP, about a new installment in the series. Gunfire Games was working on Darksiders III, but due to Airship Syndicate's small size, it wanted to create a game with a smaller scope. The new installment, titled Darksiders Genesis, is played from an isometric perspective, unlike other games in the series. It has a two-year development cycle. The game was released to generally positive reviews in December 2019.[4]

At The Game Awards 2019, the studio announced Ruined King: A League of Legends Story, a single-player turn-based role-playing game set in the League of Legends universe. Riot Forge published the game.[5] The game was released on November 16, 2021.[6] Airship Syndicate also confirmed that a next-generation console version for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S will be available as a free upgrade at a later date.[7]

During TennoCon 2022, AirShip Syndicate announced that they are collaborating with Digital Extremes for the development of a massively multiplayer online game.[8] The game, Wayfinder, was announced during The Game Awards 2022.[9] In November 2023, Digital Extremes announced that their publishing division had been shut down, and Airship Syndicate will regain full control of the property.[10] On January 31, 2024, the company announced it would lay off 12 employees. President Ryan Stefanelli and CEO Joe Madureira will also take a pay cut.[11]

Games

[edit]
Year Title Publisher Platform(s)
2017 Battle Chasers: Nightwar THQ Nordic Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android
2019 Darksiders Genesis THQ Nordic Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Stadia
2021 Ruined King: A League of Legends Story Riot Forge Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
2024[a] Wayfinder Airship Syndicate[b] Windows, PlayStation 4,[c] PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S

Notes

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  1. ^ Released in early access on August 17, 2023, with a full release planned for fall 2024.[12]
  2. ^ Initially published by Digital Extremes before being transferred to Airship Syndicate in April 2024.[12]
  3. ^ PlayStation 4 version is planned to be discontinued in 2024.[12]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Reiner, Andrew (September 26, 2014). "Former Darksiders Developers Form Airship Syndicate". Game Informer. Archived from the original on September 28, 2014. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c Watson, Eric (October 10, 2017). "The creators of Battle Chasers: Nightwar on comics, RPGs, and almost being Chaotic Evil". PC Gamer. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  3. ^ Hussain, Tamoor (September 8, 2015). "Darksiders Devs Using Crowdfunding To Revive Classic Comic Series as JRPG". GameSpot. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  4. ^ Takahashi, Dean (June 11, 2019). "Airship Syndicate comes home to make Darksiders Genesis". VentureBeat. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  5. ^ Wilde, Tyler (December 13, 2019). "Ruined King is the first singleplayer League of Legends game". PC Gamer. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  6. ^ Lee, Julia (October 31, 2020). "League of Legends turn-based RPG Ruined King comes to console and PC in 2021". Polygon. Retrieved November 1, 2020.
  7. ^ "'League of Legends' spin-off 'Ruined King' suddenly arrives on consoles and PC". Engadget. Retrieved 2021-11-27.
  8. ^ Maker, Connor (July 16, 2022). "Digital Extremes announces Soulframe and indie publishing during TennoCon 2022". VG 247. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
  9. ^ Gurwin, Gabe; Williams, Demi (December 8, 2022). "Airship Syndicate Announces New RPG Wayfinder". GameSpot. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
  10. ^ Wales, Matt (November 9, 2023). "Warframe studio confirms "a number of" layoffs as it shuts down publishing arm". Eurogamer. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  11. ^ Shepard, Kenneth (2024-01-10). "59 Days Into 2024 And 8,100 Video Game Layoffs Have Been Announced". Kotaku. Retrieved 2024-03-05.
  12. ^ a b c "Wayfinder - Announcing Wayfinder Echoes - Forging Our Own Path - Steam News". store.steampowered.com. 15 May 2024. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
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