Monday, May 25, 2009

Rockstar Co-Founders Confirm New Social Gaming Studio [feedly]

It wasn't going to be long before the big guns sat up and gave social networks some serious attention. The good thing is the crap that is on Facebook is going to have to get better. I can only say this is a good thing as Facebook has opened up gaming to a new type of player, but now they have got an appetite for gaming they will want better quality.

Two of Rockstar Games' co-founders, along with a former facial animation exec and longtime entertainment industry vet, have formally announced New York City-based 4mm Games, a privately-funded web-based game developer.

The announcement of 4mm finally confirms rumors that have circulated the web for nearly two years.

Jamie King and Gary Foreman, co-founders of Grand Theft Auto house Rockstar Games, will act as president of 4mm and CTO, respectively. At Rockstar, King was VP of product development, and Foreman was CTO.

King left Rockstar in 2006, according to his LinkedIn business networking profile. While 4mm games is just emerging today, he founded the company in January 2006. Rumors of 4mm's existence originally surfaced on the blog of former Rockstar designer Jurie Horneman.

King's LinkedIn profile describes 4mm as a "web-based service provider of digital entertainment across a digital distribution delivery platform." He said the company intends on targeting "multiple age demographics."

The studio's website adds that it is creating "online worlds that will define social gaming."

Leading 4mm as CEO is Nicholas Perrett, former general manager with facial animation company Image Metrics. Serving as EVP is Paul Coyne, former VP for NBC and SVP for Warner Music Group.

A statement from 4mm said that it has already secured a "significant title-based investment" through a strategic partnership with CEA Autumn Games. 4mm said it has "ambitious goals" to create "high profile properties." The company is keeping the exact amount of funding under wraps.

4mm plans on making more announcements about its projects in the weeks to come.


[link to original | source: Worlds In Motion | published: 2 days ago | shared via feedly]


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