Having one studio shoulder the workload of an ambitious project sometimes just isn’t enough. In the case of Marvel’s Avengers, Crystal Dynamics’ vision for the super-powered action-adventure has grown to such a scope that it had to draft in reinforcements to ensure that everything not only gets done on time but by the people that best know how to do so. In a recent interview with Gamesindustry.biz, Crystal Dynamics’ Scott Amos describes how the size of its newest venture is already well beyond that of anything it’s done in the past.
Prior to securing perhaps one of the most lucrative licenses on the planet right now, Crystal had previously dedicated several years to modernizing one of gaming’s greatest icons: Tomb Raider. That campaign reached its end last year with the release of Shadow of the Tomb Raider, itself a story told via a multi-hour campaign against the backdrop of a semi-open world. That game, says Amos, required the help of sister studio Eidos Montreal for the duration of development, a partnership that continues with Marvel’s Avengers along with four other helpers.
No, that’s not the result of a miscount. All in all, five wholly individual development teams are assigned to Marvel’s Avengers, all of which bring their own expertise and skill set to the table. Besides the two mentioned above, two offshoot studios in Redwood Shores and Bellevue have been opened with a fifth and final collaborator, Nixxes, based in the Netherlands.
As you can imagine, coordinating workloads across different continents and timezones threatens to be a logistical nightmare, which is why, according to Amos, changes needed to be made.
We’ve had to change how we work, how we are organized as a team, the number of people we need to do this, the number of external partners… We’ve had to go hire experts like Shaun Escayg, who is our creative director. He told stories for Uncharted and The Last of Us, we needed him to help tell this story.
Dave Fifield was a game director who worked on Halo and Call of Duty, we needed him to help us with multiplayer. Vince Napoli, he’s our lead combat designer, he just did God of War, come help us with the combat. We cherry-picked the best of the best and said: ‘Let’s just put this together in a new way for something bigger than we’ve ever done.”
Amos’ comments provide a fascinating insight into the amount of talent that’s being funelled into Marvel’s Avengers. With experts in their field handling each respective component of the triple-A heavy-hitter, surely failure is simply impossible?
Never say never, but all signs certainly point to Marvel’s Avengers being something truly special when it arrives next year. Personally, I can’t wait to get my hands on the end product, but what about you? Let us know your thoughts in the usual place below!
