PopCap announces new small games studio
4th & Battery designed "to keep our heads from exploding"
PopCap has announced the formation of a new small games studio which will produce several titles a year on various formats from PC to iOS.
4th & Battery will "create smaller, simpler, and sometimes edgier games without the typical constraints of an established global games publisher."
The company's first game, a free iOS title called Unpleasant Horse, will be available later this month.
"4th & Battery is a pressure valve intended to keep our heads from exploding," said PopCap's executive vice president of studios, Ed Allard. "The PopCap brand has become closely associated with ultra-high quality, polish and attention to detail - which is a great thing.
"But our standard game development process is therefore long and involved, and doesn't really accommodate all of the creativity pumping through our collective veins. 4th & Battery gives us a way to quickly try really strange or marginal ideas, and to give our designers a safe area to hone their chops."
"4th & Battery is a purely experimental, creative label with none of the typical concerns like schedules, profitability, or even target audience. It's kind of the video game equivalent of B-sides or short films," added Jason Kapalka.
"Expect weirdness."