Nightdive Studios staff on its 2024, gaming at large & the studio's future

The year 2024 was a rough one for the gaming industry. For as many great titles as we were given, there were also exponentially more layoffs in the video game and tech sectors. That said, there were quite a few studios that managed to thrive and continue to look strong coming into the new year. Nightdive Studios had a strong 2024 and looks set to continue to thrive in 2025. Recently, we had a chance to talk with a lot of the staff about what makes Nightdive work, how the team navigated a tough year, and why the devs at Nightdive continue to press on despite a tumultuous time in gaming.

Nightdive Founder and Studio Head Stephen Kick, Director of Business Development Larry Kuperman, Producer and Product Manager Daniel Grayshon, Lead Engine Developer Samuel "Kaiser" Villarreal, Producer Justin Khan, 3D Artist & Animator Albert Marin Garau, Software Engineer Josh Dowell, and Community Manager Morgan Shaver were all kind enough to give us their time on a number of questions related to Nightdive’s 2024, the industry, and the future.

What it means to be at Nightdive

For more than a decade, Nightdive has been specializing in the remaking and remastering of old games that were no longer easily available by any of today’s current technology or platforms. For the most part, everything you see out of Nightdive was a passion project of one or more of its staff, but that passion has turned into a specialty few other developers have, which is not lost on Kick and his team:

With such a focused vision for his studio, Kick has been able to gather a lot of solid developers and staff that are dedicated to the mission he set out for Nightdive. It’s made Larry Kuperman’s job as a business manager unclouded, but also rewarding with each project.

“We began with a clear vision of what we wanted to accomplish, to rescue lost treasures, games that might otherwise have been lost or forgotten,” Kuperman told us. “We’ve stayed true to that vision.”

Likewise, Daniel Grayshon, who has been there for 12 years like Kick, has felt aligned and excited with the mission for over a decade as a lead producer at the studio.

At the heart of many Nightdive endeavors, the KEX Engine has been a winning part of the team’s dedication to game restoration and design, and the stars aligned for this too. One of its lead designers, Samuel "Kaiser" Villarreal, very specifically came along to Nightdive because the AAA scene was beginning to wear on him.

"The thing I like about the industry is that it's always changing and evolving,” Kaiser explained. “It's never repetitive. However, over time I lost passion for these AAA games, so Nightdive has been perfect for me ever since.”

Kaiser added that being able to take on new challenges in programming and honing his skills as a developer has been exciting for him. Producer Justin Khan shares his enthusiasm for the KEX Engine and all sorts of other exciting challenges Nightdive tackles on a regular basis.

“I’m constantly in awe of the demonstrable talent that Nightdive employs,” Khan told us. “Whether on the KEX team or our Remake team, there never seems to be a challenge too insurmountable that our team can’t solve, and as a result, I feel like I learn new things about making games every single day. Being around like-minded people who intrinsically care about the preservation and availability of classic games speaks to my own beliefs of preserving games for generations to come. I’ve never felt the same level of dedication to the craft as I have at Nightdive.”

From Studio Head to business management to developer to Community Manager, the passion is shared at Nightdive and the team is more than clear on what they want to do and how important it is to them, as shared by Morgan Shaver.

“It means everything, honestly. I’ve long admired Nightdive’s dedication to ‘bringing lost and forgotten games back from the depths’ and it’s an honor getting to be a part of that process,” Morgan shared. “Even if my part is mostly me telling everyone to play Nightdive games.”

The Atari acquisition & the state of the industry

One of the more interesting things that happened in Nightdive’s history is Atari’s acquisition of the studio in 2023. As Atari has returned to prominent activity, Nightdive has now solidified itself as part of that revival. There was worry among fans, as there almost always is in matters of acquisition, that Atari might fail to utilize Nightdive properly. However, many of the staff feel it’s been highly synergistic, especially in a time when layoffs and studio closures have been rampant. In fact, Atari CEO Wade Rosen (whom you might also know as the lead of classic games revival publisher Ziggurat Interactive) “had been an investor in Nightdive prior the acquisition and was in complete agreement with our vision and direction,” as shared by Kuperman:

To that point, there was a common sentiment among the team that PO’ed: Definitive Edition, released in 2024, might not have happened without Atari at its back. Another common sentiment was that Atari makes it possible for Nightdive to continue to take on projects the team might not otherwise be able to take. For Producer Justin Khan, it’s great to have a collaborator that helps on the organizing and business side of Nightdive:

Even still, the plights of the gaming industry at large is something the team is aware of, and the plight hits hard even as Nightdive has succeeded.

“It hurts to see so many peers in the industry laid off,” Shaver shared. “Especially with how profitable the games industry has been and continues to be. It points to a widespread problem with upper management valuing profits over people, and not understanding it’s the talented team of people behind-the-scenes making these games that create that profit in the first place.”

For Khan, a part of the picture is that Nightdive has tried to stay away from hiring up drastically on temporary staff and, as a result, values its time, project selection, and resources carefully:

For Kick, survival in the gaming industry comes from a variety of things working well together, from Nightdive’s distinct mission and approach to Atari’s vision-aligned support.

“We’ve had the advantage of working on well-known, established IP that’s easily recognizable and with that comes the security of knowing there will be an audience,” Kick explained. “Atari acquired us because they love what we do. They wanted to enable us to do more of what we’re great at and free up our time to focus on the games and less on administrative duties while providing us structure and guidance when it comes to growing our business. Atari has been the best partner I could have hoped for and the future they’ve helped us build is incredibly exciting.”

What about AI?

As the popularity of artificial intelligence grows, so too does the desire for its application throughout a variety of sectors, including data organization, art, video, and even game design. However, where AI and media of any kind are concerned, there are also intense reservations about the quality and morality of its use, especially when the prospect of replacing artists and designers comes up. For the team, it’s an unsettling topic, but not one they haven’t discussed.

Where the large push of AI has created concern about creative environments and experience, many on the team feel that there is no replacement for the heart, soul, and passion of the human element, as shared by Grayshon:

Dan’s sentiments are shared by much of the team, and especially Kick, who has found the current trend to be uniquely challenging for Nightdive for a few specific reasons.

“We’re very well equipped to navigate this new world and utilize the tools that are available to us to deliver high quality experiences,” Kick explained. “However, there is a misconception that we use AI for all our upscaling which isn’t true and a bit frustrating when we’re accused of it - but that comes with this new, uncharted territory we find ourselves in.”

Even despite that, there are considerations to be had as AI technology continues to develop at a bullet train pace. Replacing humans and developers leaves a sour taste in the mouths of most creatives. However, some of the Nightdive staff feel, with close supervision, study, and understanding of the developing tools, AI could be a reasonable tertiary element to workflow, even if it’s not used at the studio, as shared by Khan:

Echoing some of that sentiment, Garau feels as though AI in game design can be compared to things like 3D televisions and virtual reality, where they were once supposed to be the next big thing, but have since simply become new tools that developers sometimes use.

“AI should be used as another tool supervised by professionals who know how to take advantage of it,” Garau explains. “We live in times when everyone is amazed by what AI can do, but it is still the initial ‘wow’ moment of a technology that – even if it is in continuous development – will always need professional hands so that the results are what is being sought and not simply an easy ‘wow’ effect. The same happened with VR glasses. They were meant to be ‘The Future of Video Games!!’ and they are now just another branch of the video games industry.”

All in all, Nightdive is reading the room on AI in game design, but it doesn’t look like the studio is about to use it in any major capacity anytime soon, especially when human passion and care lies so heavy at the heart of everything Nightdive Studios has accomplished.

The future of Nightdive Studios

Nightdive Studios finds itself in a valuable and strong position as it comes into 2025. The passion of Stephen Kick and his team has paid off heavily in their 12 years of operation, and they now fill a niche that few other studios can handle so exceptionally well. When asked about the future of Nightdive, many on staff felt secure in the logic that as time passes, new games will become older – “retro” – and the team will be there to make sure they are preserved so that new audiences get to experience the magic of playing these games for the first or nth time.

“The future is as bright as ever,” Grayshon told us. “We have the potential for huge growth and I've seen some of the projects we have coming across our desks for the next 3+ years, some of which I may have selfishly chosen to personally help manage!”

“I think there will always be a demand for remakes, remasters, and re-releases,” Shaver added. “Not to mention, appreciation. A game that was good or interesting 20 years ago is still good and interesting today. With so many games at risk of becoming lost forever, I don’t see Nightdive stopping or slowing down its efforts to preserve games like The Thing: Remastered anytime soon. I think 10 years from now, the list of games we’ll have brought back will be impressively long... and I think that’s pretty cool.”

Justin Khan spoke to the matter of nostalgia itself being a huge and popular vibe, and one with a tail as long as game design itself. The team just needs to be there to adapt as the feelings of nostalgia change as well:

Stephen Kick closed in saying that as long as these elements are in place - nostalgia, passion, desire, and the mission of preservation - Nightdive will never lack for projects to pursue.

“Our work will never end as long as there are still people who want to revisit classic games,” Kick concluded. “The quality of our work continues to open doors to bigger, more exciting projects and I can’t wait to show everyone what we’re working on.”

“The future is so bright, I gotta wear… Well you know the rest,” Kuperman added.

For more on Nightdive Studios, be sure to visit their website, follow them on Twitter/X, Bluesky and YouTube, and check out our Nightdive Studios topic for the latest stories, reviews, and announcements.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on BlueSky @JohnnyChugs.