Studio Wildcard released the trailer for the upcoming Ark II at the Game Awards, and Vin Diesel will star as Santiago, a freedom fighter. Following this announcement was word that he also joined the studio as their President of Creative Convergence and will act as an executive producer during the game's creation. Given his history, experience and love for gaming, it sounds like it'll be a good fit.
Most people hear the name Vin Diesel, and the first thing that comes to mind is usually the numerous action films he's starred in over the years, but Diesel is no stranger to the gaming world and video game development. Tabletop gamers have known for years about his love for Dungeons and Dragons, and in 2002, he founded Tigon Studios, which led to the development of several video games associated with action movies he's starred in.
The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay
Over the years, The Chronicles of Riddick franchise spawned three complete films, a short film, television features, novels, comics and two video games. The first game, Escape from Butcher Bay, was released for Xbox and Windows in 2004 as a prequel to the 2004 film, The Chronicles of Riddick. Not only did Diesel voice Richard B. Riddick, the role he portrayed in the films, he was also involved in the game's development.
Escape from Butcher Bay was an action-stealth game that served as a prequel to Riddick's film debut, Pitch Black. As Riddick, the player must use the anti-hero's skillset to attempt to break out of the titular Maximum Security slam, Butcher Bay. With gameplay focusing on both stealth and first-person-shooter, the player took on quests from inmates and guards in an effort to gain new weapons and get closer to Riddick's escape. Diesel both starred in the game and had a hand in its production and release.
Wheelman
The action-adventure game Wheelman was developed by Diesel's studio, Tigon and Midway-Newcastle and released by Ubisoft for Windows, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 in 2009. The game was set in a city modeled after Barcelona and featured Diesel as CIA agent Milo Burik, who'd been assigned to investigate and potentially protect a packet of top-secret documents. The various criminal factions in the city plotted to steal and sell the documents to the highest bidder.
The majority of the 31 in-game missions and over 100 side quests were driving-oriented in nature; however, there were on-foot missions as well. Critically, the game received mixed reviews, with many players bemoaning its lack of multi-player mode and others calling it so silly at times that playing it was something of a guilty pleasure. There were talks of a film to follow the game, but as of 2020, that film's status has not been updated.
The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena
Picking up where Escape from Butcher Bay left off, Assault on Dark Athena was released by Atari in 2009 with an updated version of Escape from Butcher Bay. The game rejoins Riddick and the mercenary Johns, who's been trying to score a big payday on Riddick's capture, on their escape from Butcher Bay. When their ship is drawn into a massive merc vessel, Riddick manages to escape, but Johns is taken prisoner.
Employing the same stealth tactics as the first game, Riddick sneaks through the ship and takes out mercs, but an encounter with a little girl named Lynn prompts him to aid the ship's prisoners in their escape.
Fast & Furious Crossroads
Released in August 2020 after delays due to COVID-19, Fast & Furious Crossroads is an action role-playing and racing game that takes place in the Fast & Furious universe, features multiple characters from the films and visits locations all across the globe. While much of the game focuses heavily on the racing aspect the franchise is well-known for, there are also trapped areas that must be navigated and enemy bosses in need of fighting. Despite offering both single and multiplayer modes, the game was not received well overall, with many critics calling it the worst game of the year.
With Vin Diesel going on to star in the upcoming Ark II and working hand in hand with developers on both the game and the animated series that coincide with the game, one can only begin to speculate where he'll go from here. As an actor who loves gaming as much as he loves acting, it'll be exciting to see what comes next in his gaming industry career.