Gardens: Former Journey, Skyrim & Spider-Man Devs Announce New Studio
2022 seems to be coming out swinging with some acquisitions of videogame studios. It’s refreshing to see the news of forming something new. Gardens is a new game studio that has been announced by seasoned game developers who have worked on games such as Journey, Skyrim and Spider-Man.
Gardens were founded by Chris Bell, Lexie Dostal, and Stephen Bell. They aim to redefine game development by choosing a remote-first model that allows all their employees to work remotely if necessary. Although the studio will be based in Los Angeles and Portland, they are looking for talent from all over.
Gardens also hope to create a positive work environment by promising competitive salaries, equal salaries across departments based upon years of experience, mentorship and stock options, unlimited time off, 35-hour work week and generous benefits including full medical, vision and dental and 401K contributions. Although it sounds great, we will have to wait and see if the promises are kept.
Chris Bell, the co-founder of the studio, stated the following in a press statement: “With Gardens, we wanted to make a studio that cares about the well-being, health, and happiness of its employees as much as the creation of the games they create together. Our number one priority is to ensure that our team members have a great time and have the resources and tools they need to grow. We also want to create engaging, thoughtful, and creative games that foster shared experiences between players.
Gardens is currently working on their first game. It’s based on the “shared online experiences” we saw in games like Journey, Sky: Children of the Light, and Ashen. All of these games had developers who are now working for Gardens. “Players will be able to cross paths in a mysterious, magical world that is driven by the concept artwork of ma-ko,” says the final game.
The team raised $4.5M in funding for July 2021. Now they are looking to expand. There are multiple job vacancies on the official website. We’ll hopefully be seeing more Gardens shortly.
