Dead Island 2 Dev Wants to Make a Naughty Dog-Like Video Game

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Dead Island 2 Dev Wants to Make a Naughty Dog-Like Video Game

Highlights

  • Eugenio Vitale’s career has spanned iconic titles in the gaming industry, and he is now leading Knights Peak for MY.GAMES.
  • As the former Head of Studio for Dambuster, Vitale played a crucial role in the development of Dead Island 2. For Knights Peak, he helped build a starting catalogue that includes Starship Troopers: Extermination and Pathfinder: Kingmaker.
  • Vitale’s ambition extends beyond publishing, as he hopes to one day have a hand in creating story-driven action-adventure games like Naughty Dog.

As a seasoned video game industry veteran, Yannick Banchereau Vitale has certainly had his fair share of memorable moments. However, among all these instances, the launch of Dead Island 2 undoubtedly stands out as one of the most significant milestones in his career. The game, developed over years of tireless effort and dedication by a dedicated team, was not only a commercial success but also filled Vitale with immense pride and joy.

Previously leading the studio responsible for creating Dead Island 2, a name less recognized by dedicated gamers, has been Eugenio Vitale – a video game creator with an extensive and captivating career span, much like other renowned auteurs in this field. Known for his contributions to some timeless titles, he is now the driving force behind MY.GAMES’ novel publishing label, Knights Peak.

In an interview with Game Rant, Vitale discussed his extensive career and his desire to create a type of game he hasn’t worked on before. Knights Peak could potentially be the platform for this new venture, but at present, he’s collaborating with various developers to establish the label’s initial collection of games.

From a Studio of Three to Dead Island 2

There are countless individuals in the gaming industry whose creative visions have left their mark on cherished games, yet they often don’t get as much recognition as figures like Todd Howard or Yoko Taro. Vitale might be one such person, but overlooking their rich history would be a mistake. This history dates back to the dawn of personal computing and spans the expansive reach of the Internet.

Ever since I was nine years old, captivated by tales of my own, I embarked on a journey with programming on my trusty Commodore 64. From that moment, my passion for coding and computing only grew stronger. In the early days, I established a company that offered internet access and services, even delving into complex business-level security configurations – quite a novelty in Italy during 1994, when the internet was still largely an enigma. This venture paved the way for me to amass the resources necessary to fulfill my dream: creating a video game development studio from scratch.

At age 20, Vitale was the pioneer connecting Italians to the internet for the first time while simultaneously pursuing a long-held dream: creating a video game. He journeyed throughout Italy, gathering as many collaborators as he could, eventually forming a compact team to construct an engine compatible with MS-DOS. By 1998, Dawn Interactive had launched its debut title – Extreme Trial Motocross for Windows.

For a spell, Vitale honed his skills in motocross game production with his studio. During this period, he not only grasped various facets of game development but also developed essential interpersonal abilities and publishing tactics that eventually positioned him as Knights Peak’s Vice-President of Publishing – a role he was yet to occupy. Vitale openly acknowledged that these were competencies he initially lacked.

In addition to his motorcross career, Vitale gained insight into the tech industry’s functioning. He witnessed the expansion and collapse of the dot-com bubble, observing how investment transformed from a plentiful source to a depleted one. These events served as valuable lessons for the challenging times the industry would encounter in the following three decades. However, eventually, Vitale decided to leave motocross behind. In 2016, he was appointed as the Director of Game Development for the game titled “Dead Island: Definitive Edition“.

vitale’s career reached a significant milestone with the release of Dead Island’s sequel in 2023, which he considered one of its pivotal moments. This was alongside other major accomplishments such as Shenmue 3, but the Dead Island sequel stood out particularly.

Among all the games that carry a special sentiment, Dead Island 2 stands out as an extraordinary embodiment of passion and dedication. Witnessing its triumph makes me feel nothing but immense pride and happiness. On a deeply personal note, working on Dead Island 2 required substantial sacrifices. I spent more than a year in the UK, away from my wife and young children who remained in Germany. At that time, my son was only 2, and my daughter was just 4. It was a challenging period indeed.

Despite understanding that game development often requires sacrifices, it was the realization with Dead Island 2 that truly drove this truth home for him. This understanding remains a constant as he approaches Knights Peak.

On Knights Peak’s Current Success and Vitale’s Dream Game

In June, MY.GAMES unveiled Knights Peak to the public, a significant milestone in the annals of the gaming industry. Initially serving as its Director, Vitale later assumed the role of Vice-President of Publishing. Under his leadership, he has built the publishing team and launched an initial lineup of five games: Starship Troopers: Extermination, Nikoderiko, Mandragora, Pathfinder: Kingmaker, and Blast Brigade. His vision extends beyond this foundation, aiming to forge more partnerships and broaden the portfolio.

Vitale leverages lessons gleaned from his past professional experience to establish collaborative relationships with developers and offer them necessary assistance. His background significantly contributes to the very essence of Knights Peak, but it doesn’t mean that Vitale intends to limit himself solely to the publishing sector in the future. Instead, he expresses a continued enthusiasm for creating a specific type of game, and is open to drawing inspiration from renowned artists within the industry.

I’ve consistently found myself attracted to games that combine captivating stories with action-packed adventure, a genre Naughty Dog excels at. The way they skillfully weave together gripping narratives, well-developed characters, and engrossing gameplay is something I hold in high regard and aspire to contribute to in the future.

Naughty Dog, famously recognized for its gripping action-adventure series such as Uncharted and The Last of Us, skillfully employs gaming’s interactive elements and dialogue to convey immersive, cinematic narratives tailored for gamers. This storytelling approach has proven so effective that both franchises have been translated onto the big screen – Tom Holland stars in the Uncharted movie, while Pedro Pascal features in the series adaptation of The Last of Us.

It’s not surprising that Vitale is taking on this new project, given his past role as Director of Game Development for the 2019 game Metro: Exodus, which has a similar Russian apocalyptic theme to titles like The Last of Us. In Exodus, the protagonist Artyom travels by train from Moscow and across Russia, experiencing a post-apocalyptic journey reminiscent of what was depicted in the original The Last of Us. Although Metro: Exodus provided a solid foundation for Vitale’s aspirations, it didn’t quite reach the high standards he hopes to achieve with a game that rivals the quality of Naughty Dog’s titles.

When the moment arrives for Vitale to attempt that bold style of storytelling, it appears they’ll have the perfect publishing partner by their side.

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2024-07-31 22:25