14 DAY TRIAL // The gaming industry is a tough one, with people constantly moving from different studios to other companies, and large corporations want to do everything they can in order to get their hands on the brightest and most experienced talent.
One recent example of corporate shift has been made by former Visceral Games bosses Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey, who have jumped over from Electronic Arts to Activision. The former heads of development for titles like Dead Space or Dante's Inferno are now going to spearhead Activision's new San Francisco-based studio in California.
“We are currently hiring employees to work at a new studio that is opening in the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California,” Activision revealed. “Glen Schofield along with Michael Condrey will lead the studio which will be creating a new game based on one of Activision's existing franchises. We will be providing more details regarding the game at a later date.”
The company revealed that the former manager and the former chief operating officer of Visceral Games would be leading a team to work on an existing franchise in the large portfolio of the corporation and that the project would put to good use the expertise they had gathered in the many years working for EA.
Speaking of Electronic Arts, the large corporation isn't extremely sad by the departure of the two execs. “EA has been nurturing great developers for 27 years and making room for the next generation is an important part of that process,” said the company's head of corporate communications, Jeff Brown. “It takes a team to make a great game like Dead Space and there's a stunning array of talent in the Visceral studio — creative leaders who now have the opportunity to step into the spotlight and have their talent recognized.”
Overall, such moves happen almost all the time, so all we can do now is hope that the team at Visceral Games will handle its own projects and the two former leaders will take care of an important franchise for Activision.