Darksiders studio Vigil Games came to an untimely end in the wake of THQ's collapse, and yet it didn't: Instead of purchasing the studio, Crytek left it to wither and die, then hired a big chunk of its staff for its Austin-based Crytek USA. Now its happening again, as Crytek USA has been vastly downsized in the wake of Crytek's move to free-to-play, but the Vigil team is sticking together under yet another new name.

Vigil Games founder David Adams, who was also the chief of Crytek USA, actually left the studio three weeks ago, taking the "core team" with him to form Gunfire Games. He said Crytek's money issues were part of what convinced him to go, but it was also the fact that Crytek's problems were causing others to leave.

"It really was the team," he told Polygon. "When you make a game, one of the most important elements of that is the people you work with. You could get 12 of the best developers in the world and put them into a room and they may not make a good game."

There are currently only seven people at Gunfire, all of them "leads at Crytek USA," according to Studio Director Matt Guzenda. "We're still working on the next round of guys coming around."

Adams said the new studio is "exploring" the possibility of making Darksiders 3, and has actually spoken with Nordic Games, the publisher that currently owns the IP, but added that he doesn't want to "jump into anything immediately." For now, the team is looking at some smaller projects to get started, with a long-term goal of launching a brand-new game that would "build upon what we've done in the past."

"Third-person, games with a lot of characters, adventure aspects, player progression, hunt cool bosses, fantastical creatures," he said. "We have some ideas kicking around."