We don’t know exactly what titles they’re working on, but three former Star Wars: The Old Republic veterans have joined forces under a studio now called FogBank, working on an “episodic narrative” game developed in conjunction with an “interactive storytelling platform.” As GIbiz reports, FogBank isn’t entirely new; it’s a a spinoff of Kabam that was picked up by FoxNext as Aftershock, then renamed.
The studio is led by studio director Daniel Erickson, the former creative director of Star Wars: The Old Republic; he moved around in the last few years after departing BioWare and SWTOR, most recently doing a stint for Kabam, where he was the director on mobile titles Spirit Lords and Star Wars: Uprising.
VentureBeat notes that Alexander Freed, the beloved SWTOR senior writer credited with the popular Agent storyline, will oversee narrative development for the new company. He left BioWare in 2012 too.
Maybe even more important news for MMO players is the tweet that Drew Karpyshyn, the novelist who also served as a senior writer on SWTOR, then left BioWare, then returned to work on Anthem, has apparently left BioWare again as of last week and joined Erickson’s new studio. Good news for whatever FogBank is building, but maybe not such a great thing for the effectively delayed Anthem.
Kinda like putting the old crew back together, yeah?
Incidentally, FogBank parent company FoxNext Games (nested under 21 Century Fox, soon to be nested under Disney) has acquired another game studio we’e had our eye on: Cold Iron Studios. At the end of 2016, former Cryptic devs, including Craig Zinkievich, Shannon Posniewski, and Matt Highison, announced the formation of the studio, fully funded to work on a game that was to include at least some MMO features. We’ve since learned the game is an action-based hybrid – a shooter, but with a persistent world, based in the huge Alien IP.
The studio I've been building has finally been announced. Incredibly proud of my team and excited to share what comes next.https://t.co/bl3M4yNyYZ
— Daniel Erickson (@DanielAErickson) March 8, 2018
It's Friday (at least in my time zone) and I'm finally able to go public with my big announcement!
*******drumroll*******As of last Friday, I have left BioWare to pursue other creative ventures. For more details, go to my NEWS page: https://t.co/cmSV0up2Sa
— Drew Karpyshyn (@DrewKarpyshyn) March 9, 2018
Glad to be working with you again, Drew! (Now get off Twitter and get crackin'!) https://t.co/kzyfNtJdP2
— Alexander Freed (@AlexanderMFreed) March 9, 2018
