'We didn't set out to recruit a Hollywood cast': Marvel star Simu Liu's love of StarCraft led to a big role in upcoming RTS Stormgate
08.12.2023 - 04:45
/ pcgamer.com
Stormgate is an upcoming real-time strategy game from a company with a great RTS development pedigree going back to StarCraft, but not one you'd necessarily expect to attract big Hollywood actors. Sometimes, though, big Hollywood actors happen to be huge StarCraft fans.
At The Game Awards tonight, Marvel star Simu Liu added a Hollywood twist to Stormgate when he appeared on stage to introduce a new trailer; Liu is voicing a major character in the RTS. The trailer also revealed that Stormgate, which went into closed beta this week, will hit early access this summer.
Before The Game Awards, I spoke with Tim Morton and Tim Campell, the heads of Stormgate developer Frost Giant, about Liu's role, and it turns out that their big get happened somewhat organically. «We didn't set out to go recruit a Hollywood cast for the game,» said Morton.
The star of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and bestselling author of We Were Dreamers: An Immigrant Superhero Origin Story just happens to be a skilled StarCraft 2 player.
A business that Liu and Frost Giant both worked with put the pair in touch, and Liu wanted to see what the Tims were up to, so he dropped by the Orange County studio with a buddy that he grew up playing StarCraft with.
«I've been a fan of RTS my whole life,» Liu said in an interview with the studio. «StarCraft and Brood War [were] my favorites. The first game of StarCraft I played was when I was 13 years old. The last game of StarCraft I played was last week.
»When I heard Stormgate was happening and it was the same people who made so many of the games that I loved growing up and worshiped in a lot of ways, I got excited."
Morton has a long history of real-time strategy work as StarCraft production director at Blizzard Entertainment and Command & Conquer: Generals 2 at EA/Victory Games. Campbell was formerly game director of Wasteland 3 and lead campaign designer of Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne at Blizzard.
«What's most exciting about Stormgate is that it was made by people who love RTS,» Liu said in a statement. «This is a game that, in its DNA, is every bit the games that I loved growing up. I feel like it doesn't get more authentic than that.»
«Simu goes way back with the RTS genre, and his interest is very, very deep,» Campbell said. «He's a really good player, which I didn't know initially, and he's been a fan for many, many years.»
Knowing that he was visiting with a friend who shared his interests, Frost Giant set Liu up for a little 1v1 in Stormgate, Morton said, and apparently unlike many of the pair's earlier matches, Liu won this one. «He was very happy about that. We could see that spirit of competition was still very much alive.»
In a play off Liu'sgag on Saturday Night Live