Foundation 9 Ent. announced that it will combine its two existing Southern California studios, The Collective and Shiny Ent., into one larger entity. The merge will enable greater capacity to create large-scale games based on big licensed properties. Both studios have already relocated to F9E's new 60,000-square-foot corporate headquarters in Irvine, California.
The new studio, which is yet to be named, will be led by Shiny's current studio manager, Michael "Saxs" Persson, an industry veteran who has been with Shiny for more than 10 years. "At this scale we now have the resources to truly distinguish ourselves as the go to developer for complete sku lines from next-gen to current gen and PSP," said Persson.
The move will not create any redundancies, but will be a true combination of the two studios, who both already have worked on blockbuster franchised games, such as ENTER THE MATRIX and STAR WARS EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH.
Shiny is currently wrapping up work on the multi-platform release of THE GOLDEN COMPASS, to be published by SEGA in December. The Collective is currently working on a large next-generation adaptation of a classic gaming franchise due for release in 2008.
Foundation 9 Ent. is a developer of interactive entertainment products and properties, and the largest independent games developer in North America and Europe. With studios in the San Francisco Bay Area, Vancouver, Boston, Los Angeles, Newport Beach, Eugene, Kirkland, Austin, Sheffield, U.K. and Pune, India, Foundation 9 includes Backbone Ent., Pipeworks, Amaze, Sumo Digital, and ImaginEngine. For more information, visit www.f9e.com/.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
