A group of ex-EA developers and staffers have banded together to create a brand new studio by the name of Three Thousands, and its first game is due to arrive sometime next year.
According to GamesIndustry.biz, Three Thousands is based in Melbourne and is headed up by former EA Australia general manager Joseph Donoghue. He'll serve as the new studio's CEO.
Donoghue is joined by ex-EA Melbourne racing general manager Nikhil Kurian, who'll take the position of the CPO at the new company, as well as EA Melbourne creative director Benjamin Dawe, who'll serve as Three Thousands' CCO.
The studio's three founders have, as GamesIndustry.biz points out, "experience developing and managing EA franchises, including Need for Speed and Real Racing", although the latter, unlike the former, hasn't been seen for a good few years now.
Three Thousands' first game is scheduled for 2025, and it sounds like it'll be a racing game, which makes sense given the founders' pedigree.
The studio says it's looking to create something beyond the gaming world, though; it wants to make a "digital ecosystem that connects racing enthusiasts and gamers through interactive entertainment".
Donoghue says the goal with Three Thousands is to "become the ultimate digital automative brand" and to blend the worlds of "racing, culture, and entertainment in a way no-one has done before". Clearly, this isn't a studio with small dreams.
Kurian, meanwhile, points to the fact that the studio is located in Australia, a place he says is an "attractive, cost-effective location" thanks to "government incentives", as an advantage for Three Thousands.
He says that because of this, the studio is "positioned to build world-class products on efficient budgets", pledging to "push the boundaries of world-class innovation" with Three Thousands' games.
These are big promises, but we'll have to wait and see whether the studio is capable of realizing them. Stay tuned for more on this as soon as we get it.
