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Campo Santo (company)

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Campo Santo Productions LLC
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
FoundedSeptember 18, 2013; 10 years ago (2013-09-18) in San Francisco, US
Founders
Headquarters
Bellevue, Washington
,
US
Key people
  • Sean Vanaman
  • Jake Rodkin
ProductsFirewatch
Number of employees
12[1] (2018)
ParentValve (2018–present)
Websitecamposanto.com

Campo Santo Productions LLC is an American video game developer based in Bellevue, Washington. Founded in September 2013 by Sean Vanaman, Jake Rodkin, Nels Anderson, and Olly Moss, the studio is best known for its debut game released in 2016, Firewatch. The company was acquired by Valve in April 2018.

History

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Sean Vanaman and Jake Rodkin were both at Telltale Games as co-writers on the 2012 game The Walking Dead, which was considered Telltale's first turn into a more narrative type of episodic adventure game. The game was a critical success, and while other projects came along, Vanaman started to become too comfortable with his role at Telltale, and felt that he would be more motivated if there was more discomfort or risk in his duties.[2] After talking about the idea with Rodkin, the two left the company and co-founded Campo Santo on September 18, 2013, joined by Mark of the Ninja designer Nels Anderson and graphic artist Olly Moss.[3][4] Environment artist Jane Ng and designer and composer Chris Remo, who had also worked with Vanaman and Rodkin on the Idle Thumbs podcast, soon joined the team as well.[5][6]

Soon after, they announced Panic would back their debut project.[7] After a painting by Moss,[8] Ng adapted the painting's aesthetic style into a 3D environment[8] with the color and inspiration drawn from both New Deal advertisements and icons from the National Park Service[9] as well as a camping trip in Yellowstone National Park in which the team visited a preserved fire lookout tower two miles (3.2 km) from the campsite.[9] Development eventually led to the announcement of Firewatch in March 2014, with release originally slated for 2015.[10]

In August 2014, a game demo of Firewatch was released at PAX West, revealing the overall plotline and story of a fire lookout named Henry in the Shoshone National Forest in 1989.[11][12] The game was released for Windows, PlayStation 4, macOS, Linux, and Xbox One in late 2016.[13][14] The game received positive reviews from critics, and has been nominatively known alongside other "walking simulators".[15] The original score to Firewatch by Chris Remo was released digitally alongside the game, and received a vinyl release later in 2016.[16]

In February 2016, Vanaman stated that Campo Santo's next game would not be a sequel to Firewatch.[2] In September 2016, both Campo Santo and Good Universe issued a partnership to produce a feature film adaptation of Firewatch and other content.[17] In November 2016, the company stated that the game would begin a limited-run physical release towards the end of the year.[18] At the same time, it was announced that Firewatch had sold over a million copies.[19][20]

In June 2016, Ford Motor Company used an image that closely resembled promotional art from Firewatch, which caused controversy from both Panic, Vanaman and others.[21] Shortly thereafter, Quirk Auto Dealers issued an apology, stating that Ford was not involved within the advertisement planning.[22]

In September 2017, Sean Vanaman tweeted that he would be issuing a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown against the streamer PewDiePie in response to him using a racist insult while streaming PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.[23] The move resulted in a backlash from the gaming community, and Firewatch was "review-bombed" on Steam.[24] Ars Technica noted that the company previously stated on their website that they gave open permission to stream and monetize videos made while playing the game.[25]

On April 21, 2018, Campo Santo announced that they had been acquired by Valve and would subsequently move to Valve's Bellevue, Washington headquarters and continuing In the Valley of Gods as a Valve game.[26] According to Vanaman and Rodkin, after the success of Firewatch, they started internal discussions of where they wanted to take their company. These discussions continued informally with third parties, including Valve's Robin Walker, Erik Johnson and Scott Lynch. These Valve employees suggested that Campo Santo could retain its own direction while being wholly within Valve, yet still draw from Valve's knowledge and expertise. Vanaman and Rodkin discussed this more formally with Valve, ultimately leading to the acquisition.[27][28]

Development on In The Valley of Gods was put on hold in July 2019, partially due to head writer Sean Vanaman moving to the writing team for Half-Life: Alyx, which had not been announced to the public at the time.[29] In November 2019, it was noted by journalists that Claire Hummel, Jane Ng, and Rodkin had removed In the Valley of Gods from their Twitter profile descriptions. The game also disappeared from Campo Santo's website and the original announcement trailer was made private on YouTube, though the website and its Steam profile page were still available.[30] It was later revealed by Rodkin that the game was put on hold as he and the other designers of the game had been busy working on other projects at Valve, such as Half-Life: Alyx, Dota Underlords, and Steam.[31][32][33]

Games

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Year Title Publisher(s) Platform(s) Notes
2016 Firewatch Panic Inc., Campo Santo Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
TBA In the Valley of Gods Campo Santo Windows, macOS, Linux Development on hold since 2019.[34]

References

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  1. ^ "Campo Santo News". Campo Santo. Archived from the original on April 22, 2018. Retrieved April 21, 2018.
  2. ^ a b Dreyer, Pete (February 3, 2016). "Firewatch interview with Campo Santo". Red Bull. Archived from the original on September 20, 2016. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
  3. ^ Webster, Andrew (September 24, 2018). "Remembering Telltale Games". The Verge. Archived from the original on December 12, 2019. Retrieved September 24, 2018.
  4. ^ Seszek, Mike (September 19, 2013). "Campo Santo studio formed by former Telltale Games, Klei developers". Engadget. Archived from the original on December 15, 2018. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
  5. ^ Kubba, Sinan (February 7, 2014). "Chris Remo leaves Double Fine to join startup Campo Santo". Engadget. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved October 19, 2017.
  6. ^ Ng, Jane (February 5, 2015). "Jane Ng". Uses This. Archived from the original on October 20, 2017. Retrieved October 19, 2017.
  7. ^ Sasser, Cabel (March 18, 2016). "Panic Blog » Firewatch: One Month Later". Panic. Archived from the original on October 11, 2019. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
  8. ^ a b Tach, Dave (March 12, 2015). "Before Firewatch was a 3D world, it was a painting". Polygon. Archived from the original on December 15, 2015. Retrieved December 4, 2015.
  9. ^ a b Ng, Jane (October 22, 2014). "Jane Ng Q&A Part 2". Campo Santo. Archived from the original on August 1, 2020. Retrieved March 12, 2015.
  10. ^ Tach, Dave (March 13, 2014). "Firewatch is Campo Santo's first game". Polygon. Archived from the original on January 20, 2016. Retrieved December 4, 2015.
  11. ^ Birnbaum, Ian (August 30, 2013). "First-person mystery story Firewatch revealed by Campo Santo at PAX". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on October 12, 2016. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
  12. ^ Dornbush, Jonathon (September 2, 2016). "PAX 2016: Firewatch for Xbox One Release Date Announced". IGN. Archived from the original on September 5, 2016. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
  13. ^ Sherif, Saed (September 5, 2016). "Indie hit Firewatch is coming to Xbox One this month". VG247. Archived from the original on October 5, 2020. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
  14. ^ Hossam, Mostafa (September 6, 2016). "Want more Firewatch? It's getting two new modes soon". Kill Screen. Archived from the original on September 8, 2016. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
  15. ^ Sims, David (February 11, 2016). "Review: Campo Santo's Hit Indie Video Game Firewatch Channels The Simplicity Of Minecraft, Dear Esther, and Gone Home". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on December 13, 2018. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
  16. ^ "The Firewatch Score is Getting Released On Vinyl". Blip Blop. November 23, 2016. Archived from the original on October 20, 2017. Retrieved October 19, 2017.
  17. ^ Muncy, Jake (September 26, 2016). "Campo Santo, Good Universe Team for Firewatch Film and More". Wired. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved November 30, 2016.
  18. ^ Sarkar, Samit (November 16, 2016). "Firewatch getting limited-edition physical release this year". Polygon. Archived from the original on December 1, 2016. Retrieved November 30, 2016.
  19. ^ Leack, Jonathan (January 3, 2017). "Firewatch Burns Down One Million Sales Milestone". Game Revolution. Archived from the original on January 9, 2017. Retrieved January 16, 2017.
  20. ^ Skrebels, Joe (January 4, 2017). "Firewatch Passes 1 Million Sales". IGN. Archived from the original on October 19, 2017. Retrieved October 19, 2017.
  21. ^ Daniel, Perez (June 27, 2016). "Ford copies Firewatch official art for Freedom Sales Event promotion". Shacknews. Archived from the original on September 2, 2016. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
  22. ^ Ramos, Jeff (June 28, 2016). "Ford uses Firewatch visuals for sales event". Polygon. Archived from the original on September 1, 2016. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
  23. ^ Vanaman, Sean (September 10, 2017). "Twitter". Archived from the original on September 14, 2017. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
  24. ^ "Firewatch is getting review-bombed on Steam". September 13, 2017. Archived from the original on September 13, 2017. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
  25. ^ Lee, Timothy B. (September 12, 2017). "Here's what the law says about PewDiePie's fight with Campo Santo". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on September 19, 2017. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
  26. ^ Alexander, Julia (April 21, 2018). "Valve acquires Firewatch developer, Campo Santo". Polygon. Archived from the original on December 3, 2019. Retrieved April 21, 2018.
  27. ^ Dornbush, Jonathon (May 4, 2018). "How Campo Santo's Move to Valve Does, and Doesn't, Affect In the Valley of Gods". IGN. Archived from the original on May 4, 2018. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
  28. ^ Walker, John (May 9, 2018). "Exclusive: Campo Santo talk to us about moving to Valve". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
  29. ^ Keighley, Geoff (July 2020). The Final Hours of Half-Life: Alyx. Steam.
  30. ^ Chalk, Andy. "Firewatch fans are worried that In the Valley of Gods has been canceled". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on November 20, 2019. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  31. ^ Grayson, Nathan (November 21, 2019). "Half-Life: Alyx Takes Place Between Half-Life 1 And Half-Life 2 [Update]". Kotaku. Archived from the original on November 22, 2019. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  32. ^ Keighley, Geoff (November 21, 2019). "The Final Hours of Half-Life: Alyx". Archived from the original on November 21, 2019. Retrieved November 21, 2019 – via YouTube.
  33. ^ McWhertor, Michael (December 3, 2019). "Firewatch team's next game 'on hold' as it works on other Valve projects". Polygon. Archived from the original on December 3, 2019. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  34. ^ Valentine, Rebekah (December 3, 2019). "In the Valley of Gods 'on hold' indefinitely". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on December 26, 2022. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
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