Avantgarden S.r.l. (formerly Ovosonico S.r.l.) is an Italian video game developer based in Milan. It was founded in 2012 by industry veterans Massimo Guarini and Gianni Ricciardi, sold to Digital Bros in 2020.
History
Before the establishment of the studio, Guarini was the director for Grasshopper Manufacture's Shadows of the Damned and Ubisoft's Naruto: Rise of a Ninja. He also has production credits in games for the Splinter Cell and Rainbow Six franchises.[1] After the release of Shadows of the Damned, Guarini decided to move from Japan back to his home country and go independent. He wanted to do something different in life after being in the video game industry for over fifteen years. His approach towards video games is more about trying to connect with humans, not just gamers.[2]
Back to Italy, Guarini reunites with his former colleague Gianni Ricciardi, music composer and audio director for ubisoft and other developers. The two founded Ovosonico in 2012, in a villa on Lake Varese.
In March 2013, Ovosonico announced a partnership with Sony Computer Entertainment Europe for the development of a new intellectual property, becoming the first Italian game studio to work with Sony.[1] The game, Murasaki Baby, was announced at Sony's press conference during Gamescom 2013 for the PlayStation Vita.[3] The game was released in North America and Europe in September 2014.[4]
Digital Bros invested €1.44 million in Ovosonico in September 2015, acquiring all Ricciardi's shares and gaining a 49% stake in the company,[5][6] while Ricciardi left the company to found his own game audio production studio WANT Musik.[7] In 2018, Guarini relocated Ovosonico to Milan.[6] Digital Bros bought the remainder in March 2020. Guarini subsequently left the company and retained the Ovosonico brand under his company Guarini Design S.r.l., while the Ovosonico studio was rebranded Avantgarden with its twenty employees now managed by Digital Bros' Abramo "Rami" Galante.[6]
Games developed
- Murasaki Baby (2014)
- Last Day of June (2017)
- Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Remake (2024)
External links
References
- Eddie Makuch. Shadows of the Damned director partners with Sony for new IP GameSpot, CBS Interactive, 19 March 2013, retrieved 10 October 2015^
- Mike Rose. Games for humans: Shadows of the Damned's creator finds his calling Gamasutra, UBM plc, 4 September 2013, retrieved 10 October 2015^
- Justin Davis. GAMESCOM 2013: MURASAKI BABY REVEALED FOR PS VITA IGN, Ziff Davis, 20 August 2013, retrieved 10 October 2015^
- Dennis Page. PS VITA EXCLUSIVE MURASAKI BABY RELEASE DATE ANNOUNCED IGN, Ziff Davis, 11 September 2014, retrieved 10 October 2015^
- Dan Pearson. Digital Bros invests €1.44 million in Ovosonico GamesIndustry.biz, 14 September 2015, retrieved 30 May 2021^
- Andrea Andrei. Ovosonico, Massimo Guarini lascia. L'azienda acquisita da Digital Bros, si chiamerà Avantgarden Il Messaggero, 8 March 2020, retrieved 30 May 2021^
- Alessandra Contin. Musica e videogiochi: la storia tutta italiana di Want Musik Italian.tech, 21 August 2021, retrieved 2 September 2021^