Canadian videogame developer BioWare Corp. has announced the opening of a new studio, BioWare Austin, based in Austin, Texas. It is the second of BioWare"s studios and the first to be located outside of Canada.
BioWare Austin has already begun work on a Massively Multiplayer Online roleplaying game (MMORPG) title; the new game will mark BioWare"s debut in the Massively Multiplayer Online space. BioWare has recruited some of the top talent in MMO and RPG development, both to manage the development efforts at BioWare Austin and to collaborate with the experienced team at BioWare Edmonton, to develop a game that combines the best of BioWare"s great past games with a compelling persistent online experience.
Joining the Austin team as lead designer is James Ohlen, BioWare"s Creative Director, whose previous credits include lead or co-lead design roles on Star Wars®: Knights of the Old Republic(TM), Neverwinter Nights(TM), Baldur"s Gate(TM) and Baldur"s Gate II(TM). Also leading the BWA team are MMO veterans Richard Vogel and Gordon Walton. Richard Vogel brings 15 years of experience to BioWare Austin, previously serving as VP of Product Development for Sony Online Entertainment"s Austin studio, as well as launching Ultima Online(TM) as a senior producer at Origin. Gordon Walton recently served as VP, studio manager and executive producer at Sony Online Entertainment as well as VP and Executive Producer at Electronic Arts.
The new BioWare Austin comes soon after the formation of BioWare/Pandemic Studios, a partnership facilitated by private equity firm Elevation Partners. The new entity combines top videogame developers BioWare Corp., an industry leader in the role-playing game genre, and Pandemic Studios, an award-winning developer of best-selling action titles.