Turbine launches LA studio
Plans attack on Asia-Pacific marketplace, console and mobile games, etc.
Two months after it secured $18 million in venture capital and bought back the rights to the Asheron's Call series from Microsoft, MMORPG developer Turbine Entertainment has hired former Atari veepee Jason Bell to head up a new LA studio aimed at tapping into the lucrative Asia-Pacific marketplace.
According to Bell, who will take up the role of executive vice president and oversee operations at the new LA studio, the company hopes to launch both Asheron's Call 1 and 2 in the region. AC1 as well because "Even a small percentage of market share in China is a significant win for Turbine."
Bell also revealed that Turbine is looking at moving some of its products to console, and has also become interested in exploiting the mobile market. You can find out more about that in a Q&A session at GameSpot, where he also indicated that this is by no means the end of expansion for Turbine. "We're going to be looking into new IP here," he said of the LA studio. "Hopefully, we'll be expanding considerably in 2005, but we're being careful for this first year."
