TITLE
The Untold Story Of Darkwatch
AUTHOR
Eric Switzer
PUBLICATION
The Gamer
YEAR
2021
ARTICLE TYPE
Article
FROM THE ARTICLE
It’s been 15 years since the release of Darkwatch, but creators of the game have never stopped dreaming about what the universe could have become. “I miss Darkwatch every day of my life,” Darkwatch lead designer Paul O’Connor tells me. “That was our company, that was our game, that was our shot.”O’Connor is one of the four co-creators of Darkwatch and a founding member of both Sammy Studios and the company it would eventually become: High Moon Studios. O’Connor, along with Chris Ulm, Farzad Varahramyan, and Emmanuel Valdez, brought Darkwatch to life amidst years of organizational changes and economic uncertainty. Between the development of Darkwatch and its ill-fated sequel, ownership of the studio changed hands five times before eventually becoming a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, where it remains to this day. Despite a positive critical reaction to Darkwatch and an enthusiastic fan base, Darkwatch 2 became a casualty of conflicting business directions, and the series never became what its creators hoped it could be. “We know it wasn’t perfect,” O’Connor says, “but we also think that we were onto something, and it’s a crying shame that it didn’t become a franchise.”
COMPANIES MENTIONED
High Moon Studios
GAMES MENTIONED
Darkwatch
PEOPLE MENTIONED
Paul O’Connor
Chris Ulm
Emmanuel Valdez
Farzad Varahramyan
SEE ALSO
Darkwatch with Eric Switzer – Video Game History Foundation’s Video Game History Hour (2021)