Epic Games announces the big, huge opening of Impossible Studios

Epic is obviously still working on becoming even more epic and today the company announced that they have officially opened up a brand new studio with some familiar faces.

Impossible Studios is headed up by several individuals from the now shuttered, Maryland-based Big Huge Games (known for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, Catan, Rise of Nations), and their first game has been announced to be Infinity Blade: Dungeons for iOS devices.

Check out the shot of the studio and read on for the official announcement from Epic.

Epic Games, Inc. announces the opening of Impossible Studios, a company comprised of highly skilled, senior-level game development talent. Based in Hunt Valley, Maryland, Impossible is the latest addition to Epic?s network, which includes corporate headquarters in Cary, North Carolina; ChAIR Entertainment in Salt Lake City, Utah; People Can Fly in Warsaw, Poland; Epic Games Korea in Seoul, Korea; and Epic Games Japan in Yokohama, Japan.

Founded in June, Impossible brings world-class game development expertise and creativity to Epic?s growing team. With heralded roots in real-time strategy and role-playing entertainment software, Impossible brings its own distinct design and technical sensibilities to Epic?s portfolio of games and game technology across major platforms.

Led by studio director Sean Dunn, Impossible?s first project is the touch-based action role-playing game ?Infinity Blade: Dungeons? for iOS. ?Infinity Blade: Dungeons,? which was conceived at Epic?s Cary studio, is being developed in collaboration with Epic and ChAIR under Impossible?s roof in Maryland.

Impossible consists of former employees of Big Huge Games, creators of the renowned ?Rise of Nations? strategy games, ?Catan? for Xbox LIVE Arcade, ?Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties? for PC, and ?Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning? for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. Big Huge Games earned the Baltimore Business Journal?s ?Best Places to Work 2011? award and was also honored as one of Game Developer magazine?s top 30 developers in the world earlier this year.

?Epic Games has truly embraced this stellar collection of developers who were displaced by the closing of Big Huge Games,? said studio director Sean Dunn. ?They have looked after us with complete care, giving us all the tools and resources we need to make a lot of gamers happy.?

?We were so glad we could help keep this great team together, and we?re lucky to have them,? said Epic Games President Dr. Michael Capps. ?At the time, I said that finding a full team of superstars was ?impossible? and apparently the name stuck! Pairing the imagination and experience of Impossible with Epic?s technology, IP and resources makes for a business greater than the sum of its parts.?

Capps will lead an ?Infinity Blade: Dungeons? panel with the game?s lead designer, Ian Frazier, and author, Brandon Sanderson, at Dragon*Con in Atlanta on August 31. ?Infinity Blade: Dungeons? is set for release on the App Store later this year.