Globex signs Pandemic vets for US expansion
Chinese company signs respected talent to create new massively multiplayer properties for global audiences
Some of the leading talent behind Pandemic's most successful hits including Mercenaries, Star Wars Battlefront and Destroy All Humans have been signed by Globex Studios to open a new LA-based development house.
The company already has studios in China and Taiwan, but this move marks a significant expansion into the North American market, with plans to offer direct-to-consumer games for online audiences in the US and China.
"The ability to innovate and be agile has become essential for creating great games," said Benjamin Chow, CEO of Globex Studios. "By putting together this highly creative international team, we are bringing together the highly sophisticated gameplay of a western game with the unique social gameplay of a Chinese MMO - effectively delivering engaging gameplay experiences that reach broad consumer demographics on a global scale.
"We are excited to be meeting these challenges and experiencing the growth opportunities of the evolving worldwide industry with our talented Globex Studios and now Globex Studios LA teams."
Former Pandemic art director Carey Chico takes the president and CCO role at Globex LA, award-winning designer Troy Dunniway becomes VP of game development and publishing veteran Jesse Taylor will act as chief technical officer and COO.
"In launching Globex Studios LA, we saw a future success path for the games business that will result in products that are conceived, made and marketed with high levels of quality, efficiency and cultural relevance," offered Chico.
"We are advancing with the industry and, as companies seek the right mix for distributed development/production and access to the cost benefits and growth of regions like China, we will be benefiting from the best of both. In addition to exploring new paradigms for development, Globex Studios is also well positioned for the transition happening in today's industry from a 'game as product' to a 'game as service' market, with online games as a major focus."
Pandemic was owned by Electronic Arts, but the super-publisher closed down the respected studio as part of efforts to reign in large-scale console development and switch to online business models.
The new Globex team is specifically focusing on creating new intellectual properties for massively multiplayer online games, with specific announcements expected shortly.