EA Chicago vets form new studio, ink Activision deal

News

Michael French Sep 30 2008, 12:50pm

Independent studio Robomodo targets triple-A title for new publisher

New Chicago-based studio Robomodo has formally announced its existence - and with it a new deal with Activision.

The team, founded by former EA Chicago staff at the start of 2008, is developing a multiplatform game for the publisher.

It currently boasts a team of 45 and is working on established franchises before stretching out to its own IP.

Robomodo was founded by five partners: Joshua Tsui (Director), David Michicich (CEO and Creative Director), Nick Ehrlich (COO and Director of Project Management), Peter Sauerbrei (CTO) and Richard Ho (Motion Director). Four of the five partners (Tsui, Michicich, Ho, and Ehrlich) first worked together in the early 90’s at Midway Games on titles that included the Mortal Kombat series.

Tsui, Michicich, and Sauerbrei went on to work at EA Chicago in 2005 and started Robomodo upon EA’s closure of its Chicago office.

“At Robomodo we are dedicated to ‘doing it right’, from the way we approach game design and art, to the methods we use to manage our projects,” said Tsui.

“Our culture is focused on enabling game designers and artists to innovate, while providing them with proper management oversight and technology support. Activision has embraced our vision and agreed to give us a shot with one of their IPs. We are fortunate to be working with the largest publisher worldwide, and we are looking forward to collaborating with their team on one of their upcoming games.”