Games industry veterans Emanuel Palalic (Doom, Doom Eternal) and Garrett Young (Doom, Rage 2) have announced the formation of a new AAA studio, known as emptyvessel. As shared by GamesIndustry.biz, emptyvessel is based in Texas, and comprises a number of tenured staff from studios including Id Software, Naughty Dog, and Activision.
The founding team includes Wei Ning (Weta Digital) as CTO, Alex Palma (Doom) as art director, and Rico Flores (Uncharted, Uncharted 4, Anthem) as animation director. Mick Gordon (Doom) is also on board as the composer for emptyvessel’s debut project.
“Our industry is at a crossroads between business and talent. At emptyvessel, we take a developer-first approach to our direction and execution,” Garrett Young said of the studio formation, per GamesIndustry.biz.
“We understand every innovation in this industry has been led by a developer taking a risk – every new IP, every billion-dollar franchise. Gaming’s next massive hit can come from anywhere.”
Read: Star Wars Jedi game director announces new AAA studio, Giant Skull
emptyvessel has raised initial seed funding with the support of Sisu Game Ventures, as well as Raptor Group, Bill Munk, and Dan Bunting. It’s expected these funds will go directly towards development of the studio’s debut game, which is described as a “shooter inspired by dystopian sci-fi media.”
Given the studio comprises a number of Doom veterans, we can assume there will be shades of this punchy first-person shooter in emptyvessel’s debut project. For now, we’ll have to remain patient to see what’s in store.
In other new studio formation news, former Star Wars Jedi game director Stig Asmussen recently announced the formation of a new studio focussed on immersive single player experiences. You can read about this studio, Giant Skull, on GamesHub.
