After months of uncertainty and a two week auction, the Darksiders franchise finally has a new owner. Relatively unknown developer, Nordic Games was the winning bidder of the IP, purchasing it along with several other former THQ IPs for 4.9 million dollars. Their most notable work to date includes Alan Wake and Painkiller: Hell and Damnation. While they were the winning bidder, the transaction will not be finalized until May 13th. It is nice to see the franchise get a new owner, but there is still some skepticism about its future and a possible Darksiders III. Nordic released the following statement concerning their acquisition of Darksiders and other franchises.
The looming auction date for the Darksiders franchise starts on April 1st and one of the companies that has shown interest is Crytek. Crytek USA is now the home of many Vigil Games employees, including company founder David Adams, who was also the lead developer for both Darksiders and Darksiders II. He recently took to Twitter, showing the intention to put in a bid for the Darksiders IP.
Going to bid on Darksiders IP. Put 7 years of heart and soul into that franchise, and I think it belongs at home with its creators.
— David Adams (@DadamsDavid) March 27, 2013
Ryan Stefanelli, another founder of Vigil Games and one of the lead developers for both the Darksiders titles, also commented, backing up Adams’ statements.
This might seem kind of strange and completely out of the blue, but a brand new Xbox 360 Bundle is has released featuring Darksiders II. Starting today at most major retail stores, you can purchase a 250GB Xbox 360 console that comes bundled with a digital copy of Batman: Arkham City as well as a physical copy of Darksiders II. The bundle is available at the price-point of $299.99. Considering both titles are two third party games that released for the Wii U, this might be Microsoft’s attempt to lure any Wii gamers that haven’t quite jumped over to the Wii U.
In any case, it’s nice to see this bundle release and hopefully prolong the Darksiders II life-cycle. The longer the game is still relevant, the more people will play it and hopefully increases the chances of us someday getting a Darksiders III.
Source: GenGAME
Back in January, THQ sold off many of its existing studios and game franchises, but several of our favorite franchises and studios went unsold, including Darksiders and its developer Vigil Games. Since then, many members of the Vigil team have joined with Crytek to form a new US Studio. However, this still left the Darksiders franchise on the sideline without a home.
It has since been revealed that THQ will sell off the rest of its properties this coming April. Bidding will run from April 1st until April 15th. Darksiders and Darksiders II are packaged in the same lot and presumably whomever purchases the two titles will gain the rights to the series moving forward. This will be the first step towards any hope or dream of a Darksiders III ever existing. Only time will tell, but I’m personally crossing my fingers that Crytek considers making a bid for the two games since it does make the most sense and would give the most hope for a Darksiders III in the future.
After the THQ fire sale a few days back, the unfortunate news was that there weren’t any bids for either Vigil Games or for the Darksiders franchise. This led to all Vigil Games employees being laid off immediately. Fortunately it hasn’t taken long for many of them to get back on their feet. According to Polygon, Vigil Games co-Founder David Adams has been hired on as the new CEO of Crytek USA Corp. Crytek is best known for the Crysis series. Adams had this to say about his latest gig at the new studio.
In addition to Adams, 35 employees have been hired on to join the team, all of which are former Vigil Games team members. Great news for the team and we wish the best of luck to them. As of now, the Darksiders franchise still is in a bit of limbo and the chances of a Darksiders III happening will have to wait, pending the sale of the IP. It is also worth noting that there was no mention of the new IP Crawler. Stay tuned as more news breaks.
When Darksiders II launched for the Nintendo Wii U back in November of last year, the team crafted a tribute art piece around the Darksiders franchise as a tip of the hat to one of their favorite franchises, the Legend of Zelda. The art piece you see to the left is a Darksidres-tribute to the cover artwork of the Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.
As a Darksiders fan that initially made the jump because of all the Legend of Zelda comparisons, I can really appreciate the awesomeness of such an art piece. I can safely say that the Legend of Zelda and Darksiders are my two favorite franchises and it’s really nice to see that the folks over at Vigil weren’t aren’t afraid to show their colors. Part of the reason Darksiders came together as it did was because of the Legend of Zelda and it’s great to see them pay tribute. Go ahead and make the jump to check out large versions of the Darksiders II and Skyward Sword banners.
UPDATE: Earlier reports at IGN had suggested that Take-Two Studios had acquired Vigil Games. However according to Kotaku, who posted a transcript of the letter from THQ president Jason Rubin, Vigil Games has in fact NOT been sold. Stay tuned for more information as it develops.
The demise of THQ is here with many of its assets and studios being sold off. Among the bidders, Koch Media, Take-Two, Ubisoft, and SEGA each got a piece of the pie. Most notably concerning Darksiders, Vigil Games has reportedly been purchased by Take-Two Studios. While the average gamer might not know much about Take-Two, they are the parent company of 2k Games and Rockstar Games, makers of games such as Grand Theft Auto, Bioshock, Civilization, Red Dead, Max Payne, and several notable sports games.
During the bankruptcy reveal of THQ, it was reported that Vigil Games was working on a title Crawler. It’s unclear whether this was a new game, or just a codename for a potential Darksiders III. In any case, if Vigil Games does settle in under a larger parent company, this could potentially mean good things down the road for the Darksiders Series and Darksiders III in particular.
Our sister website GenGame recently reported about the unfortunate news that THQ has filed for bankruptcy. As part of the process of declaring bankruptcy, THQ had to reveal all of their assets, which includes unreleased games. On this list, there were games such as Saints Row 4 as well as many previously unrevealed titles including Evolve, 1666, and Atlas.
Most notable on the list was that Darksiders II developer Vigil Games was working on a brand new title known as Crawler. What is just as notable is that despite the bankruptcy and the full reveal of all assets, there was not a single mention of Darksiders III. This is likely due to sales numbers of Darksiders II not meeting THQ’s original goals. At this point, it’s still unclear on what the future holds for the Darksiders franchise. Who knows, with the bankruptcy of THQ, perhaps a different publisher will pick up the Vigil Games development team and take a chance on a Darksiders III. I’m crossing my fingers as I think there is still so much potential for our beloved series.
Still holding out on picking up Darksiders II? Well over at Steam there is a massive sale on the recently released game, selling at 66% of its original price. Instead of the full $50 price point that it launched at back in August, the game is now available for just $17. Additionally the Prima Games Strategy Guide is available for just $6.80, or you can bundle the two together for $20.40.
If you are interested in getting this for Steam, you’ll have to act fast, as the deal is only good for another day and half. A similar deal is also available on Amazon, where the game is selling for $16.99.
With the present situation over at THQ, the performance of Darksiders II is very important this holiday season. There’s still hope that the reduced prices on the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC versions of the game, along with the upcoming launch of the WiiU version of the game, can drive sales, hopefully reaching the initial bench marks set forth by THQ. Hopefully enough sales could be reached where Darksiders III is warranted. Only time will tell.
THQ recently released its earnings report for the second quarter of its 2013 fiscal year and we finally have some hard numbers on how Darksiders II has done. Through three months, Darksiders II has shipped 1.4 million units. Though THQ was happy with the finished product of Darksiders II, these numbers were a bit under-performing to what they had hoped for.
Just prior to the release of the game, it was stated that the fate of Darksiders III relied heavily on the sales of Darksiders II. While the game has done well, it doesn’t seem like Darksiders II has sold well enough as of yet to warrant the continuation of the franchise. There is still some hope as there is still the upcoming Holiday season, along with the Nintendo Wii U version that will be releasing in just a few weeks. New THQ president Jason Rubin had this to say about the status of Darksiders II and the future of these types of games.