Versus Evil LLC was an American video game publisher[1] founded by former ZeniMax Online Studios marketing director Steve Escalante to focus on the independent video game market.[2] Versus Evil was bought by another publisher, tinyBuild, in November 2021. On December 22, 2023, all Versus Evil staff were laid off and the company was shut down.
History
Versus Evil was founded in September 2013.[3] On January 14, 2014, Versus Evil launched Stoic's role-playing strategy game, The Banner Saga, which received praise as one of the top indie titles of 2014.[4][5] Versus Evil continued to spread its distribution throughout the globe by launching Dragons and Titans,[6] a free-to-playmultiplayer online battle arena game, and the SteamEarly Access version of Habitat,[7] which it expected to launch at retail in 2015. In August 2014 at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, Versus Evil announced several key developer partnerships including Tangrin Studios, based in the Netherlands, who were working on an action role-playing title, Kyn,[8] and SwordTales, a Brazilian indie developer, who were working on their first video game, Toren,[9] a puzzle platform adventure game. Also part of this announcement was the sequel to the third-person action game Afro Samurai, called Afro Samurai 2: Revenge of Kuma,[10][11] being developed by indie developer Redacted Studios. In September 2014, Versus Evil launched their first mobile title by bringing The Banner Saga to the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.[12]
On February 8, 2021, the Nintendo Switch port of Pillars of Eternity was abandoned by Versus Evil while still containing significant bugs, with no refunds offered.[13][14]
In November 2021, tinyBuild acquired Versus Evil and Red Cerberus.[15] In December 2023, tinyBuild reported that it had settled a legal dispute with Versus Evil general manager Steve Escalante, head of production James Lance, and previous owner Stall Proof LLC, who had filed a claim that tinyBuild had failed to make "timely capital contributions" to the studio. Escalante had also separately claimed that $3 million in shares and options had not been paid. TinyBuild settled the matter for $3.5 million plus legal costs. Escalante subsequently left the company.[16] On December 22, the entire Versus Evil staff was laid off.[17][18] All Versus Evil releases, including upcoming titles, were moved over to tinyBuild.[3]
In August 2024, Steve Escalante and Lance James announced the formation of Digital Bandidos, a new publisher aimed at funding indie games and acquiring new and established intellectual property.[19]
