Former Journey, Skyrim, And Spider-Man Developers Announce New “Remote-First Studio” Gardens

If you’re a fan of thatgamecompany’s titles, titles like Ratchet & Clank, Skyrim or Fallout, or What Remains of Edith Finch, this might just be exciting news for you. Today, developers who have worked on all these games announced they’ve teamed up to create an all-new “remote-first” studio, named Gardens. According to the press release, the new studio is “built on the initiative of growing a studio that’s transparent, sustainable, inclusive, and empowering”. The focus of the studio will be to build online games that “foster meaningful multiplayer moments and relationships between players”.

In building the studio, founders Chris Bell, Lexie Dostal, and Stephen Bell went in a direction that you’d almost be an actual trend by now, and set it up to be fully remote. Although, it is mostly based out of Portland and Los Angeles. The company is currently hiring and boasts competitive pay, mentorship, unlimited PTO, a 35-hour workweek, and full medical, etc. benefits, as well as other things.

As for the kinds of games they intend to create, the focus is on building games that help cultivate friendship and get players to be nice to each other. Their first, currently unnamed, game is built around some of the same principles the games the developers have worked on before have exemplified. That would be games like Journey, Sky: Children of the Light, Blaseball, and more. These games encourage players to work together to get things done rather than creating a super competitive environment. And, just like in Journey, players will cross paths in the world.

If you're interested in finding out more about Gardens, or perhaps some of the job listings they have open, you can find everything you need to know on the Gardens site.