Earlier this year, two long time developers from Respawn Entertainment – Jon Shiring and Drew McCoy – announced that they would be leaving the studio and were planning a still undisclosed venture. Today, that secret was unveiled in the form of Gravity Well: a AAA studio with a focus on creating games with a small team that prioritizes creative freedom.
I am beyond excited to announce Gravity Well - a new AAA studio @jonshiring and I are starting in Los Angeles! Its still early days, but if helping start a diverse and remote-native studio sounds interesting you should submit your resume at https://t.co/7mNxGk0XZE
— Drew McCoy (@DKo5) May 11, 2020
Gravity Well is currently looking to hire a small batch of developers to get its as-of-now remote studio up and running. Both Shiring and McCoy have confirmed that the reasoning behind this decision is because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. With that being said, Shiring and McCoy also claimed that starting things off remotely will ultimately help them in terms of getting a much more diverse and talented pool of applicants, where aspiring employees will not be “hamstrung by relocation or work visa issues”. “We want to hire the best talent in the industry, regardless of where you live,” Shiring said. Currently, Gravity Well is looking for development staff for animation, art, audio, engineering, game design, QA managing, and technical art and animation.
McCoy emphasized that Gravity Well is a studio that is in it “for the Long Haul” which can be achieved by putting the team first. That means anti-crunch, good compensation, and creative freedom for everyone at Gravity Well. For a much more detailed letter regarding the newly formed studio’s mission and vision, check out the studio's website.
McCoy and Shiring’s track record of games makes for a very exciting future, especially for first-person shooter fans. During their tenure with Activision, they were involved in the development of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and its sequel, Modern Warfare 2. From there, they helped found Respawn Entertainment with Infinity Ward founders Vince Zampella and Jason West. Respawn Entertainment is most known for its shooters Titanfall and Titanfall 2 and the overwhelmingly successful free-to-play battle royale based on the Titanfall universe, Apex Legends.
