Crytek's new Austin studio could be a second chance for Vigil

Crysis developer Crytek is coming to America. The newly-formed Crytek USA Corp. will be located in Austin, Texas, and headed by CEO David Adams, the former GM and co-owner of local Darksiders developer Vigil. Adams will oversee a team of "35 experienced developers" consisting of "some of the brightest development talent in the industry," according to a statement given to Gamasutra. Though we've yet to confirm this for sure, a representative strongly hinted at the possibility that this staff may have several other veterans from Vigil, whose days appear to be numbered after bankrupted owner THQ failed to find it a buyer. When asked if the new Austin studio was essentially a purchase of Vigil Games, Crytek rep Jens Schafer told us Crytek USA is "more like a new start for [the team at Vigil]." We're following up for more details. A new studio could be good news for a crippled Austin game development community. In addition to Vigil's slow death, the last eight months alone saw a major reduction at Starhawk developer Lightbox, a near-shutdown of Zynga Austin, and a restructuring of BioWare Austin. Crytek USA is the Frankfurt, Germany-based company's 9th worldwide studio, and its first in the United States. Its other studios are located in the Ukraine, Hungary, Bulgaria, Seoul, Nottingham, Shanghai and, most recently, Istanbul. In addition to the Crysis and Warface series, Crytek is also the developer of the CryEngine game engine. The company is currently working on Homefront 2, the license for which it acquired from original publisher THQ in its bankruptcy auction.