Summary
Former Microsoft executive Sajid Farooq and priorRed Dead Redemption 2dev James Rackliffe have partnered with AAA game veterans to create ILHAM, a new game studio. The gaming industry has seen plenty of changes throughout the past couple of years, and some of the developers who have spent time shaping the landscape of the industry through AAA hits like Rockstar’sRed Dead Redemption 2are making plans for newer projects using those skills.
There are plenty of factors that may have led creators to want to take a bit more control of the game development process that they have been an integral part of for a long time. Developers that have years of knowledge to share with rising talent appear to be putting more effort toward the creation of fresh IPs produced by new companies, such asStig Asmussen’s new studio Giant Skull, which is working on a new single-player action game with some of the talent behind theGod of WarandStar Wars Jedigames. Another studio has been created with a new game on the way.
Former Microsoft executive Dr. Sajid Farooq andRed Dead Redemption 2developer James Rackliffe have founded ILHAM, a studio focused on producing titles with perspectives from Middle Eastern and Indian Subcontinental cultures. Farooq, a former DirectX lead, believes that gamers are craving fresh ideas, and he has partnered with Rackliffe, who has experience as an EA director and with technical QA work onmodern gaming classicRed Dead Redemption 2, to help prove that.
Industry Veterans Form ILHAM
The first game by ILHAM is described as an AA open-world survival title for PC and consoles, and the developers are intent on pushing “the limits of both the genre and the players themselves,” signaling that the experience will not only contain plenty of depth, but challenges for experienced gamers to get something new out of. Although strong narrative-led games likeThe Last of Us andResident Evil 7arehighly-praised entries in the survival gaming genre, neither offers a glimpse into the slice of culture that ILHAM plans to offer with its new title.
Creating a survival title that boasts a compelling narrative along with complex and fulfilling gameplay mechanics is a difficult task, but many veteran developers appear to be banding together to form new studios with these goals.Rockstar Games co-founder Dan Houser created Absurd Ventures, which is intent on providing gamers with another fresh story-driven adventure IP. With ILHAM, James Rackliffe has expressed a desire to explore Middle Eastern lore and mysticism in a way that current games rarely explore. ILHAM’s upcoming game could push gamers and developers alike into new territory.
Red Dead Redemption 2
WHERE TO PLAY
America, 1899. The end of the wild west era has begun as lawmen hunt down the last remaining outlaw gangs. Those who will not surrender or succumb are killed. After a robbery goes badly wrong in the western town of Blackwater, Arthur Morgan and the Van der Linde gang are forced to flee. With federal agents and the best bounty hunters in the nation massing on their heels, the gang must rob, steal and fight their way across the rugged heartland of America in order to survive. As deepening internal divisions threaten to tear the gang apart, Arthur must make a choice between his own ideals and loyalty to the gang who raised him. From the creators of Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption, Red Dead Redemption 2 is an epic tale of life in America at the dawn of the modern age.
