‘Invincible' Video Game Set as Skybound Launches First In-House Game Studio, Quarter Up
The new division's first game is the recently announced 3v3 tag fighting game 'Invincible VS,' a title set in the world of Amazon Prime Video's popular adult animated superhero series created based on the comics penned by Skybound's Robert Kirkman.
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'Invincible VS' is described as 'a brutal tournament-quality 3v3 tag fighting game that lets players become a superhero in the bloodiest fight in the universe.' The game will feature fan-favorite 'Invincible' superheroes Mark Grayson (Invincible), Thula, Atom Eve, Bulletproof and more characters in an original single-player story from the creative team behind Amazon's 'Invincible' TV series.
The game, which was first teased during Xbox Games Showcase on Sunday ahead of Skybound's Quarter Up reveal Monday, is slated to launch in 2026.
'I think about our team as a group of fighting-game fans making games for the fighting-game community, and we're trying to create a game that matches what people want,' Skybound Games chief Chris Paulson told Variety. 'And it doesn't have to be this huge game that costs $100, it can be something more focused. And so we don't really think about double A or triple A or whatever, we think about making a game for an audience, and we're playing the game with the people that are going to be fans.'
Headquartered in Los Angeles, Quarter Up is made up of more than 40 developers who are alums from gaming studios including Activision Blizzard, Amazon Game Studios, Double Helix Games, Riot Games, Naughty Dog, Netflix and more. The team's mission is to 'redefine the fighting game genre by being at the center of combat, presentation and passion,' but they're keeping quiet on what other projects they're planning beyond 'Invincible VS.'
'We're hyper focused on this game right now,' 'Invincible VS' executive producer Mike Willette, who previously worked on Double Helix Games' 2013 title 'Killer Instinct,' told Variety. 'We want this game to amaze people. We want them to fall in love with the characters and the world of 'Invincible.' There's so much rich lore and badass-ness that we just want people to get their chance to play with us.'
But as they move forward making other games for Skybound, Willette noted how Quarter Up being an in-house gaming studio has already simplified his usual dev struggles.
'From a developer perspective, it's just amazing that you have access to all these resources,' he said. 'I've worked on projects before where you're begging, borrowing, stealing just to find, 'What is this? Can I get access to this?' Here, it's not a problem. We have decades' worth of stuff to go back through comic-wise and access to the show and the creative team. So for us, couldn't ask for anything better on the dev side.'
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