Former Skyrim and Spider-Man developers have formed a new studio called Gardens, focused on “compelling, well-crafted, thoughtful games.”
The new studio is made up of a variety of talented devs that have also worked on games like Journey, What Remains of Edith Finch, and Ratchet & Clank, as well as Skyrim. It’s helmed by Chris Bell, Lexie Dostal, and Stephen Bell, and based in the US as a fully remote studio. In an interview with GamesRadar, Chris Bell explained what their goals are at the studio. “We’re really interested in building online spaces that grow and evolve together with their community,” says Chris.
“I would love it if the game we are working on now encourages or inspires players to be considerate towards strangers, the other people they are crossing paths with, and the virtual world that they’re in, that they’re shaping and transforming together.”
The studio also wants to foster a healthy work environment for everyone involved. In an interview with PlayStation Universe, Chris and Stephen explained that they had both suffered from crunch. And so in turn they want to run a studio that doesn’t have negative effects on anyone’s health.
“Some of us even left the industry entirely for a time. We refuse to believe that making great games means grinding people up. We believe crunch actually produces worse work. And so when we came together to create Gardens, we knew we wanted to try our hardest to do things differently.”
Considering the team has worked on unique online games like Journey, anything the studio does produce is likely to be interesting. Gardens didn’t provide any specific details on what its first game will be like. But keep your eyes peeled for what will probably be an exciting debut title.
Shop With GameByte!
Don’t forget you can find great games and more on the GameByte Shop! Our store is stocked up with the latest games, merch and accessories. We might even have a new-gen console or two! Sign up to our newsletter to be notified of our console drops, deals and more. Please note the GameByte Shop is available for UK customers only.
Featured Image Credit: Gardens/ Bethesda