Smilegate and Remedy have been closely working together for quite some time now. As you might recall, Smilegate is the developer behind the immensely popular online shooter CrossFire. Although that game is mostly played in South-Korea, with their upcoming video game – called CrossFire X – Smilegate wants to take a shot at the western market. It enlisted the help of Remedy to develop a cinematic singleplayer campaign. Exciting times for Remedy. The studio is mostly known for creating third-person experiences, and thus their first First Person Shooter was a challenge on its own.
Never bet on a single horse is what Smilegate must have thought. The studio recently founded Smilegate Barcelona, a brand new studio aimed to develop new AAA open-world experiences. Their first game is being developed with the Unreal engine by a team of game industry veterans, as said on their website.
One of those veterans is Remedy’s Paul Ehreth. Paul was a Lead Designer on Control and has continuously been on the forefront during the game’s press and media outings. He’s now an Associate Director and will work on said AAA open-world game. While I’m sure Paul will be missed at Remedy, we want to wish him al the best in his new role. It will be interesting what the team comes up with and if it will contribute to Smilegate’s quest to capture the heart of western gamers.
