Gunfire Games

Gunfire Games, LLC is an American video game developer based in Austin, Texas. The studio was founded by David Adams in July 2014, bringing with him the core team of Crytek USA just before that studio's closure. The company was acquired by THQ Nordic in August 2019.

History

Gunfire Games founder David Adams had previously founded the developer Vigil Games alongside other former NCSoft employees in 2005.^[2] Vigil Games developed the Darksiders series and was acquired by THQ in 2006.^[2] The studio remained mostly unchanged until 2013, when THQ folded after filing for bankruptcy in 2012.^[2][3] On the last day of Vigil Games' operations, Adams received a call from Crytek asking him to help establish an American branch for the company; subsequently, Adams found himself as chief executive officer of the newly established Crytek USA two days later, bringing two-thirds of Vigil Games' former staff (around 50 people) with him.^[2] The idea for Crytek USA came about last-minute as no one had bid to acquire Vigil Games in THQ's bankruptcy auctions.^[2][3] Crytek later faced financial challenges as a result of which Crytek USA was chronically under-funded.^[2][3] At the same time, Adams wished to take matters in his own hands without having to rely on a larger governing entity.^[2][3] Thus, in July 2014, Adams decided to start an independent studio, Gunfire Games, and quit his job of eighteen months on the same day.^[2]

Gunfire Games began with seven people, all of them former leads from Crytek USA.