Former Ubisoft Barcelona employees announced this Thursday (12) the creation of Dark Ritual Studios, a studio dedicated to immersive indie games. The information was released in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz by game director Myles Kerwin, former level designer expert at Ubisoft.
Kerwin said that experience in a large organization showed how difficult it can be to remain agile. "Excellent games don't necessarily require huge teams," he said. According to him, AAA development has become complex, and many layers of coordination can delay creative decisions.
Context of layoffs
The studio is born one month after Ubisoft proposed laying off 51 employees in Barcelona and closing subsidiaries in Winnipeg and Belgrade. The measure sparked strikes led by the Spanish union Confederación General del Trabajo.
In a LinkedIn post on Wednesday (11), Kerwin said he left Ubisoft in July, citing internal restructuring and the layoff of the Assassin's Creed team in Barcelona. He pointed out that Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced surpassed 3 million players.
Dark Ritual Studios already has funding to complete its first game, Puzzle Mage, with a release planned for 2027.
