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Giant Skull is a new studio from former Star Wars Jedi series director

Stig Asmussen, formerly of Respawn, is heading a new studio focused on making new AAA action-adventure games.

Ozzie Mejia

March 12, 2024 7:00 AM

Giant Skull

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It is almost six months to the day since Star Wars Jedi series director Stig Asmussen announced he would be leaving Respawn Entertainment. The departure was shocking given that Asmussen had expressed a desire to see Cal Kestis' story through to the end, but publisher Electronic Arts still wished him luck in his future endeavors. Those future endeavors were revealed on Tuesday with Asmussen revealing his new game development studio, Giant Skull.

"The Giant Skull studio culture is founded on creativity and curiosity," Asmussen said via press release. "We have assembled a talented team renowned for immersive storytelling, heroic combat and exhilarating traversal, and our goal is to craft a rich universe that players will want to lose themselves in for years to come."

Giant Skull's roster of talent includes CTO Jon Carr, who worked as the technical director on Star Wars Jedi: Survivor; Art Director Patrick Murphy, who previously worked as Art Director on Fortnite, Valorant, League of Legends, and more; Lead Producer Lauren McLemore, former Lead Producer on Fortnite; Design Director Jeff Magers, who previously worked with Asmussen on the Star Wars Jedi series; Animation Director Brian Campbell, an original member of the Fortnite team; and COO/CFO Anthony Scott, who previously served in similar roles with Rocksteady Studios and Unbroken Studios, the latter of which assisted with development on Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. The Giant Skull crew is currently working on its debut project, which is expected to be a single-player action title that runs on Unreal Engine 5.

Asmussen's September departure left the Star Wars Jedi series in a momentary state of limbo. A third game in that series is a likely inevitability, even as Respawn reels from recent layoffs that left a Star Wars FPS canceled.

The resume of Giant Skull's leadership speaks for itself, so while the team's first project is unknown, it'll be exciting to see what they come up with. We'll be sure to follow the studio's endeavors in the months ahead. For now, be sure to check out the Giant Skull website.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?