Start-ups

Bowling, who announced his shock departure from the Modern Warfare studio late last month, told Game Informer that Robotoki was to focus on "creating a universe first, experiences second, and game mechanics last." More >

Game designer Chris Bell and Feel Engineer John Nesky will now focus on finishing Way, a finalist at the Independent Games Festival which is currently available as a free alpha build. More >

Dene and Simon Carter, formerly of Fable developer Lionhead, have formed a new studio, Another Place Productions. The pair, who co-founded Big Blue Box, sold it to Lionhead and Microsoft and went on to create the Fable franchise, left Lionhead last year. More >

Former staff at Chime developer Zoe Mode, DJ Hero studio Freestyle Games and others have formed Echo Peak, a studio focusing on music games for consoles and digital platforms. The team includes Zoe Mode game director Ciaran Walsh, creative director (and former Edge editor) Ste Curran and studio head Ed Daly, and talent from Freestyle, EA and Kuju subsidiary Doublesix. More >

Game Closure, creator of an SDK enabling cross-platform multiplayer in HTML5, has raised $12 million in investment after turning down approaches from Facebook and Zynga. More >

Bungie co-founder Alex Seropian has formed Industrial Toys, a studio developing core-focused games for mobile platforms. On its Facebook page, the studio promises to be "mobile to the core, with games that let you have an immersive session at home that blows your mind apart as well as a 30-second experience that still moves you forward while you're waiting for the bus." More >

THQ is to publish games developed by Innovative Leisure, a mobile game startup founded by Xbox co-creator Seamus Blackley. Blackley revealed his new company last week in an interview with VentureBeat. He described the iPhone as "the new arcade," and the 99¢ pricepoint as "the new quarter." With that in mind, he has assembled a team of industry veterans who were behind much of Atari's arcade output in the 70s and 80s. More >

Greg Borrud, co-founder of Mercenaries and Full Spectrum Warrior developer Pandemic Studios, has unveiled his new venture, social game developer Seismic Games. Speaking to TechCrunch, Borrud, who is co-founder along with fellow Pandemic staffer Eric Gerwitz and ex-Vivendi VP Chris Miller, said Seismic would not be working to the accepted social gaming model on Facebook. More >

Microsoft has spent a reported $100 million on Israeli start-up VideoSurf, saying its video search technology will "augment the Xbox 360 ecosystem." VideoSurf's technology can "see" individual frames inside videos, with facial and audio recognition, which Microsoft intends to use to further beef up discoverability on Xbox Live. The Xbox 360 dashboard update, due on December 6, can be fully controlled by voice, with Bing integration allowing users to search for games, music and video content from a variety of providers. More >

UK trade association TIGA says that Square Enix's announcement this week of a new studio in Montreal further highlights the need for the UK government to introduce targeted tax breaks for the videogame industry. Square Enix will increase headcount at Deus Ex: Human Revolution developer Eidos Montreal by 100, with the new Square Enix Montreal creating 150 jobs when it opens next year. In a press release, TIGA called on the coalition government to look again at Games Tax Relief in its autumn statement and March budget. More >

Four ex-Rare staffers have established a new independent development studio, which is working on a sci-fi Xbox Live Arcade title due to be published by Microsoft. More >

Mark Jacobs, co-founder and former CEO of MMOG developer Mythic Entertainment, has formed a new studio, City State Entertainment. His new venture, which like Mythic is based in Fairfax, Virginia, will focus on mobile and social games. More >

Ubisoft and Eidos veterans have formed Tribute Games, a Montreal-based start-up focusing on "retro games with a modern twist for home consoles and mobile platforms". Tribute consists of Ninja Senki creator Jonathan Lavigne, Justin Cyr, and Jean-François Major, whose prior credits include the likes of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, Shaun White Snowboarding and Star Wars: Episode 3, Gamesetwatch reports. The studio's debut game, a 16-bit-style pinball/RPG hybrid called Wizorb, is due to launch on Xbox Live Indie later this month with a PC version to follow. "We chose the name Tribute Games because when we make games, we want to pay tribute to all the cool games from our childhood," said Lavigne. “We’re passionate indies aiming at making entertaining games with a focus on pixel art and classic game design (sometimes with a modern twist)."

David Darling, a co-founder of Codemasters in 1986, has launched Kwalee. The Leamington Spa-based studio will focus on mobile apps. The company’s website states Kwalee "will develop smartphone apps that are very special indeed (not just games), we are striving to give our customers unique and rewarding experiences." With mobile development ushering in a return to bedroom coding days of the '80s, Darling's move seems a good fit.

A trio of senior staff members recently made redundant when THQ Digital Warrington closed its doors have established a new UK games outfit based in the North West. Founded by Digital Warrington senior concept artist Paul Dolan, studio graphic designer Donna Jennett and art director Stuart Jennett, Alien Apple Studios will offer a range of concept design services from vehicle, character, environment and UI design through to product branding, Develop reports. “It’s exciting times for studios like us, in the games industry especially there is a long-term change in the production model starting to emerge with outsourcing becoming the norm,” said Jennett. “As well as the big publishers there’s also a boom in small independent studios again that hopefully we can provide for. We’ve already had some amazing interest, we’re a strong team with a lot of skills and imagination to offer and I’ve every confidence for Alien Apple Studios' future.”