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Michael Mumbauer and John Garvin, two veteran PlayStation developers, who have worked on The Last of Us and Days Gone, have announced their new studio. And their first game, Ashfall.
John Garvin used to work at Bend Studio. He was the creative director of many of the Syphon Filter games. And he also wrote and directed Uncharted: Golden Abyss and Days Gone. Mumbauer, meanwhile, was the head of the Visual Arts Service Group at PlayStation.
The new studio is named Liithos, and its first game will be Ashfall. There is a rather strange assemblage of words, however, that makes it quite difficult to get excited. An announcement on the Liithos website (via VGC) describes this game as “the first true Web 3.0 AAA title for PC, console, and the Hedera network.” Furthermore, this game will use a “native, energy-efficient cryptocurrency” called HBAR.
I don’t know what most of that means, but it doesn’t sound terribly reassuring. The game itself, Ashfall, is a multiplayer action affair. As you can see, in the artwork above, it seems to have something to do with volcanoes.
“Ashfall will have players fighting to survive a world scarred by global warming, the ignited volcanic Ring-of-Fire, mysterious and disruptive energy fields, and warring enclaves, beginning as a connected Single Player adventure that will evolve into a Multiplayer PVP & PVE cinematic transmedia world.”
Garvin said, in a statement:
“Our goal is to create a truly next-gen, open world experience that engages with new technologies to allow user-generated content. As always, our focus is on creating beloved characters, captivating stories and evolutionary gameplay and a world worth exploring, not just in games, but other media as well.”
