Airship Syndicate

Airship Syndicate is a video game development company based in Austin, Texas. Founded by several ex-Vigil Games staff including Joe Madureira and Ryan Stefanelli,[1] in 2014, Airship Syndicate is most known for developing Battle Chasers: Nightwar (2017), Darksiders Genesis (2019) and Ruined King: A League of Legends Story (2021).

Airship Syndicate
IndustryVideo games
Founded2014
FounderJoe Madureira (CEO)
Ryan Stefanelli
Steve Madureira
Headquarters
Austin, Texas
,
US
Number of employees
40 (2019)
Websitewww.airshipsyndicate.com

History
Joe Madureira co-founded the studio

Vigil Games, the creator of the Darksiders series, was shut down after publisher THQ declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The co-founders of Vigil Games, Joe Madureira returned to work for Marvel Comics, while Ryan Stefanelli joined Crytek USA and worked on Hunt: Horrors of the Gilded Age. After Hunt's development was rebooted by Crytek and Madureira finished his work on the comics, the two, alongside ex-Vigil Games animator Steve Madureira, decided to start an independent studio with a small team, as they felt that Vigil grew to become too big.[2] When they were choosing the studio's name, they initially considered using the name "Chaotic Evil", but they dropped the name after realizing that it was once used by a porn site.[3] According to Madureira, they ultimately decided to use the title "Airship Syndicate" instead, since the title reflected a "vibe of exploration and otherworldly technologies".[2]

After the company's establishment, it quickly began developing a dungeon crawling game, which was described by the team as a "love letter" to JRPG.[4] Initially set to be a new intellectual property (IP), the game was later set in the Battle Chasers universe, which was created by Madureira. Madureira had reservations since he considered Battle Chasers to be an old comic book series and he was unsure if "fans would care".[3] Nonetheless, when Battle Chasers: Nightwar launched on Kickstarter, it earned more than $850,000, surpassing its initial goal of $500,000. The team expanded since the scope of the project increased significantly during the course of development. The game was released in October 2017 by THQ Nordic and it was both a critical and commercial success.[3]

After the successful release of Battle Chasers: Nightwar, the studio began pitching to THQ Nordic, the owner of the Darksiders IP, about a new installment in the series. Gunfire Games was working on Darksiders III, but due to Airship Syndicate's small size, it wanted to create a game with a smaller scope. The new installment, titled Darksiders Genesis, is played from an isometric perspective, unlike other games in the series. It has a two-year development cycle. The game was released to generally positive reviews in December 2019.[5]

At The Game Awards 2019, the studio announced Ruined King: A League of Legends Story, a single-player turn-based role-playing game set in the League of Legends universe. Riot Forge will publish the game.[6] The game is set to be released in early 2021.[7]

Games
YearTitlePublisherPlatform(s)
2017 Battle Chasers: Nightwar THQ Nordic Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android
2019 Darksiders Genesis THQ Nordic Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Stadia
2021 Ruined King: A League of Legends Story Riot Forge Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S

References
  1. "Airship Syndicate (Company)". Giant Bomb. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  2. Reiner, Andrew (September 26, 2014). "Former Darksiders Developers Form Airship Syndicate". Game Informer. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  3. Watson, Eric (October 10, 2017). "The creators of Battle Chasers: Nightwar on comics, RPGs, and almost being Chaotic Evil". PC Gamer. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  4. Hussain, Tamoor (September 8, 2015). "Darksiders Devs Using Crowdfunding To Revive Classic Comic Series as JRPG". GameSpot. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  5. Takahashi, Dean (June 11, 2019). "Airship Syndicate comes home to make Darksiders Genesis". VentureBeat. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  6. Wilde, Tyler (December 13, 2019). "Ruined King is the first singleplayer League of Legends game". PC Gamer. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  7. Lee, Julia (October 31, 2020). "League of Legends turn-based RPG Ruined King comes to console and PC in 2021". Polygon. Retrieved November 1, 2020.
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