Published , by TJ Denzer
Published , by TJ Denzer
Bill Wang and David Brevik know their way around the video games industry with a collective experience of decades behind them, and now they’re putting that experience to work with the launch of Skystone Games. A group that will focus on developing and publishing multiplatform titles, Skystone Games already has two gaming projects on its ledger as it opens its doors today.
Skystone Games was announced via press release on May 11, 2020, with David Brevik and Bill Wang at the head of the group as its President and CEO respectively. Brevik is known for his work on the inception and creation of the Diablo franchise, as well as handling games like Marvel Heroes as the former CEO of Gazillion Entertainment. Wang was Vice President of Perfect Worlds Entertainment and Giant Interactive with a hand in helping games like Dota 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive make their way to China. Together, they are publishing and overseeing titles such as Undying from Vanimals and Spaceline Crew from Coffeenauts as the first projects of Skystone’s portfolio.
Undying is set to tell an emotional story of a zombie-infected world in which a bitten mother must protect and support her young son for as long as time will allow, helping the two of them survive, scavenge food and supplies, and more in a dangerous and unforgiving environment.
Meanwhile, Spaceline Crew is a co-op roguelike in which players must serve a intergalactic travel service as flight attendants, trying to sort out a number of hijinks such as meeting the needs of demanding alien passengers, calming folks through rough asteroid field turbulence, and dealing with puke in Zero G.
Wang and Brevik see Skystone as an opportunity to not only be a worldwide publisher of titles such as these, but also use their experience as mentors to creative studios such as the above games.
“We envision Skystone Games as a global developer and publisher of multiplatform video games, with the aim to provide creative guidance and global publishing services. In this way, we help talented designers make better quality games and market to a global audience.” said Bill Wang. “We want to create a family-like environment that's fun and supportive - a place where every team member’s thoughts and ideas carry the same weight. Developers will share know-how and best practices across projects. When we collaborate in this way, everyone wins.”
“One of the biggest joys in this industry is uncovering hidden gems - projects that are absolutely special, but don’t ever really get the attention they deserve. That’s a problem we want to help solve,” added David Brevik. “Our team has a proven track record of doing just that, and we want to shine a spotlight on the sort of talent that deserves to be recognized in a very crowded and competitive world.”
As Skystone launches with Undying and Spaceline Crew on its slate, stay tuned to Shacknews for more from Wang and Brevik’s new organization throughout the year, as well as further upcoming details on their currently announced games. You can also follow the studio for their latest on Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook.