Ex-SingStar lead Bozek launches new games studio

Inensu, a new gaming start-up, was officially launched this morning - headed up by former SingStar producer and Atari development director Paulina Bozek.

The "micro-studio" will focus initially on games for web and iPhone, with its first project due "before the end of the year".

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz in an exclusive interview, Bozek said: "We're working on the next generation of social games for web and mobile. We have two projects in progress; we're going back to our roots and working on a new music game/platform."

"Our philosophy is to make smaller games that are fast to launch, that can grow into a platform or a service and which would live across web and mobile with some interesting integration of both devices and communities."

An "early version" of the music project is due out by the end of the year. "But that will only be the beginning," Bozek insisted. "We will evolve it based on feedback from users and the lessons of being live."

Despite her association with SingStar, the project will not focus on "performing or singing specifically," she said.

"We're not ready to release the details yet but our inspiration is very broad and we're combining games, social networks and music in new and engaging ways. Music is a very universal platform – there are so many different experiences you can build around it."

She added: "We're also working on a super cool fashion-based project with a major UK broadcaster with a known passion for games, which we will announce a bit later."

Inensu is currently a team of five, including Bozek as CEO, with an office in the Hoxton area of east London. "We are bringing together expertise from social games on console and the web, along with excellent technical people," she explained.

The company announced today, via its Twitter feed, it was further seeking to recruit a designer and front-end developer.

"The aim is to build a team that is made up of very experienced people and young, new-starters who are passionate about making cutting-edge but widely-appealing social games."

Bozek, who steered SingStar from an experimental concept into a multi-million-selling worldwide hit for Sony, joined Atari in 2008 to create a social-gaming studio, an area she will continue to focus on in her solo venture.

"The reason Facebook and social networks have really clicked as a game platform is because you're friends are there," she said. "You don't all have to have a special machine to play, you all have access to the web and your friends are there to play with and hang out with.

"I'm still a very, very mass market person with the games I want to make," she added. "The fact that the audiences are there, same with iPhone, the fact that everyone's getting into smart phones you carry around with you all the time - the possibilities that brings are really interesting."