*Clears throat and does best G-Man impression*
“Welcome Campo Santo. You have chosen or been chosen to relocate to one of our finest remaining…”
Riffs on Dr. Breen’s Half Life 2 speech aside, yup it is true – Valve have announced the acquisition of indie studio Campo Santo.
Valve’s president and CEO Gabe Newell, has commented: “The team at Campo Santo have built a reputation as some of the best in the industry and we’re excited to have them with us at Valve. Our collective goal is to continue pushing the boundaries of interactive storytelling and to do so, we’re bringing some of the brightest minds in the industry into Valve.”
The Campo Santo team have announced that they will be keeping their San Francisco office, though a number of the team members will move to Bellevue, Washington to work with Valve. They plan to continue developing games, and also provide support for Valve’s development efforts in the future. There will be no changes to the company’s roadmap in the short term, and the team will continue to develop their games as usual.
Their next game, In The Valley of the Gods is expected to be released sometime next year. In The Valley of the Gods is a single player game currently in development. Players take on the role of a filmmaker exploring the Sahara desert in the 1920s, discovering ancient ruins and solving puzzles.
The game is a spiritual successor to the team’s previous game, Firewatch. In it, players explore the Wyoming wilderness as a fire lookout, and unravel the mystery of the world’s most isolated job.
The Campo Santo team wrote on their blog: “We had a series of long conversations with the people at Valve and everyone shared the satisfaction we take in working with people whose talents dwarf our own to make things we never thought possible. The two of us will be forever grateful for the support we received from Valve, and we look forward to continuing to work with them on future projects.”
“Players won’t be alone in the world of In The Valley of the Gods. The game will be released sometime next year, and we are excited to share more information about it soon.”
See more Steam stories and Firewatch coverage on Broken Joysticks.
