DIGITAL EXTREMES IS TAKING AN


AIRSHIP TO EVENOR Richard Browne, head of external projects at Digital Extremes


tells Vince Pavey all about Wayfinder, its upcoming synth-fantasy collaboration with Airship Syndicate


W


Richard Browne, head of external projects at Digital Extremes


ayfinder is an arcane action-RPG that will see adventurers explore the world of Evenor on a quest to


push back the Gloom and bring light back to the world. It’s the latest game from publisher Digital Extremes and studio Airship Syndicate, and has origins that are perhaps surprisingly forged in relationships that were formed back when Airship co-founders Joe Madureira and Ryan Stefanelli first approached THQ with Darksiders. “It was one of the only games where I’ve


actually ever walked out of a pitch meeting and said ‘We have to sign this’” reminisces Digital Extremes’ Richard Browne, then in charge of global external development at THQ. “I’ve kept in touch with [Joe and Ryan] ever since. Airship grew and built Battle Chasers, then built the next Darksiders and they were


18 | MCV/DEVELOP Febraury 2023


building Ruined King. We started chatting about four years ago about what they wanted to do next. That’s how Wayfinder came about.” Digital Extremes is obviously very well-


known for its work on Warframe, the massively popular online sci-fi RPG, but another online RPG game like Wayfinder wasn’t necessarily on the cards as its next move. “Digital Extremes often worked as a work-


for-hire company, but when Warframe took off, they had several years of amazing success and wanted to do something else,” explains Browne. “It was then a question of ‘how do you


expand, without getting insanely big?’ and so the logical route was ‘okay, we should find other developers and give them the same opportunity’. We knew there were lots of other work-for-hire studios out there who had the incredible ability to create great things, but


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