Vigil Games

Vigil Games

Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Video games
Founded	2005; 19 years ago (2005)
Founder	Joe Madureira David Adams
Defunct	January 23, 2013; 11 years ago (January 23, 2013)
Fate	Closed by parent, most staffs moved to Crytek USA, headed by David Adams, and Airship Syndicate, headed by Joe Madureira
Successor	Airship Syndicate Crytek USA
Headquarters	Austin, Texas, U.S.
Key people	David Adams (general manager)
Products	Darksiders series
Owner	THQ (2006–2013)
Website	Official website

Vigil Games was an American game development company owned by THQ. It was formed by comic artist Joe Madureira and David Adams in 2005.^[1]

History

Vigil Games was founded in 2005 by Joe Madureira, David Adams, Marvin Donald and Ryan Stefanelli. Vigil Games became a part of the THQ family in 2006, and was located in Austin, Texas. Vigil Games was housed in Four Points Centre where THQ leased 33,000 square feet.

Although much of THQ's assets were sold in an auction as part of bankruptcy hearings, Vigil itself received no bids. In a letter written by THQ's CEO Brian Farrell, it was stated that Vigil would remain part of the Chapter 11 case and that THQ would still try to find a suitable buyer for the properties not sold in the auction, but that there would be immediate job losses in the affected entities.^[2]

At the time of bankruptcy, Vigil was developing Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online.

In a posting on Twitter, PlatinumGames producer Atsushi Inaba expressed interest in acquiring the Darksiders franchise from THQ.^[3] In the end, Nordic Games acquired the Darksiders franchise, along with the Red Faction and MX vs. ATV franchises.^[4]

While Crytek planned to bid for Vigil due to its past work, owner Cevat Yerli ultimately decided not to because he felt that their current projects would not fit with the company's strategy. However, following Vigil's closure, Crytek would establish a new U.S. subsidiary known Crytek USA, led by David Adams and employing many of its former staff.^[5]

Other former Vigil employees have gone to work for Retro Studios,^[6] BattleCry Studios, Certain Affinity and many others. Many of the staff also joined Gunfire Games, a company set up in 2014 by Adams and Airship Syndicate, formed by co-founder Joe Madureira in 2015.^[7]

Games developed

Year	Title	Platform(s)
		PS3	Wii U	Win	X360	OnLive
2010	Darksiders	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
2012	Darksiders II	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

References

1. Elliott, Phil (March 10, 2010). "Maintaining the Vigil". gamesindustry.biz. Retrieved November 27, 2021.
2. "THQ Dissolved, Saints Row, Company of Heroes, Darksiders Devs Acquired". IGN. 23 January 2013. Archived from the original on 25 July 2015. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
3. "Platinum Games boss expresses interest in buying Darksiders on Twitter". Polygon. 2013-01-24. Archived from the original on 27 January 2013. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
4. "Darksiders, Red Faction, MX vs ATV Purchased by Nordic Games". 22 April 2013. Archived from the original on April 24, 2013. Retrieved April 23, 2013.
5. "How Crytek hired the ex-Vigil team (and formed a new studio) based on one meeting". VentureBeat. 2013-02-04. Archived from the original on 7 March 2013. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
6. "Retro picks up Vigil, Junction Point, BioWare employees". 28 January 2013. Archived from the original on 2013-01-29. Retrieved 2013-02-03.
7. Andrew Reiner (2015-02-22). "Former Darksiders Developers Form Airship Syndicate". Game Informer. Archived from the original on 2015-02-25. Retrieved 2015-02-23.