Hardcore social game developer Kabam today announced it has acquired independent developers Fearless Studios. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Fearless was co-founded in 2010 by Haden Blackman and Cedrick Collomb, and their talent is a primary motivator for the acquisition. Blackman (pictured, at left) is credited as a writer, producer or director for seven Star Wars titles published by LucasArts, and has been recognized with a Writers Guild of America award for his work on the popular Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. He also is an acclaimed comic book writer, most recently on Darth Vader & The Lost Command for Dark Horse and Batwoman for DC Comics, in addition to authoring several books.
Collomb (pictured, at right) was director of engineering for LucasArts, having previously been a programmer with Electronic Arts, Sony Computer Entertainment and Sega. One of his most significant below-the-line achievements was to bring together the development pipeline for LucasArts with that of its parent company LucasFilm, resulting in production efficiencies and additional cross-platform capabilities.
Hardcore social games are those designed for players seeking the type of complex, immersive experience provided by massively multiplayer titles. Recent Kabam titles include The Godfather: Five Families, Dragons of Atlantis, Edgeworld and Kingdoms of Camelot.
“The Fearless Studios team brings a wealth of talent and experience in creating outstanding, highly successful AAA titles across a range of genres,” said Kevin Chou, CEO of Kabam. “Their skills in game design, emerging technologies and proficiency in making the transition from 2D to 3D on consoles mesh perfectly with Kabam’s strategy. We’ll significantly strengthen our industry leadership as the online gaming market transitions to higher fidelity, 3D gameplay with our acquisition of Fearless Studios.”
Related links:
http://www.fearlessstudios.com
Press release – http://fearlessstudios.com/?p=298
