Ex-Respawn Entertainment veterans Drew McCoy and Jon “Slothy” Shiring have broken off from the industry darling to start Gravity Well, a remote-native and anti-crunch development team. The two bring with them 14 years of experience on blockbuster mega hits such as the Call of Duty and Titanfall franchises, as well as the recent battle-royale success of Apex Legends.
McCoy and Shiring start up Gravity Well close to a decade after the exodus from Infinity Ward propelled them into founding Respawn with Medal of Honor and Call of Duty gurus Jason West and Vince Zampella. “For us, it’s all about gameplay first, finding innovative spaces to explore and taking risks that maybe other people won’t take.” McCoy told gi.biz in a recent interview addressing the creation of the unique studio.
Gravity Well’s remote-native and anti-crunch approaches are especially interesting at a time when these are both hot button issues, with the COVID-19 pandemic forcing almost all studios to work on projects remotely from home and canceling all big industry showcases, instead opting for livestreams.
With the shining pedigree McCoy and Shiring bring with them to a new work-from-home based studio and on the cusp of a fresh console generation that McCoy says “feels like an iteration” but offers more speed and power, stating “I think that things like the amount of CPU power and I/O speed actually opens up opportunities that we haven’t had before.” it’s undoubtedly exciting to see what the old pros on a new team have in store, even if the wait will be a while.
When updates on Gravity Well are available, TiCGamesNetwork will have the news.
