New Remote Game Studio 'Gardens' Attracting Major Industry Talent

gamerant.com:

A brand new games studio that is promising that it will always operate with totally remote workers was announced on Wednesday, along with a roster of developers that includes some major talent from AAA and indie games. Gardens is being formed by co-founders Chris and Stephen Bell — who might be best known for What Remains of Edith Finch — as well as Dustforce's Lexie Dostal.

Chris and Stephen Bell's What Remains of Edith Finch is said to have offered a magical realism that other games should aim at, but that's not the only title either man has worked on. Chris also worked on Journey, among other titles, and Stephen had a hand in Blaseball. While Gardens' founders have a strong background in indie games, it's clear from the company's announcement that it has also pulled in talent that has worked on some of the more prominent and more popular games around.

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In an official announcement on Wednesday, Gardens stated the company has already added developers that worked on incredibly well-reviewed PlayStation blockbusters like Spider-Man and Ratchet & Clank. The new team is also boasting people who have worked on Skyrim and the Fallout series, among other big and small titles.

While Gardens is hyping up developers who have also worked on quality indie games like Ashen, it's also apparently trying to set itself apart by being a studio that focuses on its employees' mental health and wellbeing of its employees by being a «remote-first» company. That means that while it is based primarily in Los Angeles and Portland, those who work for it can seemingly do so entirely from a location of their choosing, as long as the work can get done.

While not much is known about what sort