The Darkness: Starbreeze specializing in low-key IP

First The Chronicles of Riddick, and now this. Sounds like Starbreeze wants to specialize in turning low-key IP into games that want to append “critically acclaimed” to. Starbreeze’s Jens Matthies and Mikael Saker, along with Tommy Tordson and Jerk Gustafsson, talk to CVG about their inspiration in using a cult comic to show off the power of next-gen. Yeah, show the power of the top dogs by going to the underdogs…

With Riddick being a hit among the critics, the devs felt the pressure to deliver with The Darkness, says Mikael. The Darkness wasn’t even an idea out of their hat, it seems; Jens says that they “got this one offer for The Darkness,” they read the comic, liked what they read, and bam, new game idea. One consequence of which was that these Swedes had to place an order for “huge racks of comics” from America just to build their IP library.

Thank goodness then for extensive support from Top Cow and Paul Jenkins, who helped Starbreeze understand the The Darkness universe more. With that understanding, it was time to translate ideas to technological prowess. Jens:

The most important thing I think we did was taking the next-gen leap from Riddick, from the production side of things. We’ve done a lot of things, but the core is the same, allowing us to do much more and get more detail and extra information in the game. For me, this opportunity wasn’t about creating a game that’s better in the technological sense, but in terms of gameplay and storytelling. We’re at a point now where a lot of companies can make really pretty-looking games, so it’s not really about just the looks anymore.

There you go. Games ain’t just about looks.

First The Chronicles of Riddick, and now this. Sounds like Starbreeze wants to specialize in turning low-key IP into games that want to append “critically acclaimed” to. Starbreeze’s Jens Matthies and Mikael Saker, along with Tommy Tordson and Jerk Gustafsson, talk to CVG about their inspiration in using a cult comic to show off the power of next-gen. Yeah, show the power of the top dogs by going to the underdogs…

With Riddick being a hit among the critics, the devs felt the pressure to deliver with The Darkness, says Mikael. The Darkness wasn’t even an idea out of their hat, it seems; Jens says that they “got this one offer for The Darkness,” they read the comic, liked what they read, and bam, new game idea. One consequence of which was that these Swedes had to place an order for “huge racks of comics” from America just to build their IP library.

Thank goodness then for extensive support from Top Cow and Paul Jenkins, who helped Starbreeze understand the The Darkness universe more. With that understanding, it was time to translate ideas to technological prowess. Jens:

The most important thing I think we did was taking the next-gen leap from Riddick, from the production side of things. We’ve done a lot of things, but the core is the same, allowing us to do much more and get more detail and extra information in the game. For me, this opportunity wasn’t about creating a game that’s better in the technological sense, but in terms of gameplay and storytelling. We’re at a point now where a lot of companies can make really pretty-looking games, so it’s not really about just the looks anymore.

There you go. Games ain’t just about looks.