The Order: 1886 developer doesn't own the IP, is now a platform agnostic studio
Ready at Dawn has opened up about a number of topics amid announcing Blizzard's Paul Sams as its new CEO.
The Order: 1886 developer Ready at Dawn announced today an expansion to its business. The studio hired industry veteran and former Blizzard CEO Paul Sams as its new CEO. Sams will oversee the developer's new publishing business, based in Austin, Texas. Current CEO Ru Weerasuriya will be realigned as president and chief creative officer.
"This opportunity further fulfils a goal we had long sought. With Paul's arrival, the entire team at our studio in Irvine will turn its attention solely on creative and game development, while Austin will become the focus of our business endeavours. Paul's expertise will be essential in achieving some of our goals, including our desire to seek a strategic partner in helping us create and retain ownership of our own transmedia IPs," Weerasuriya said in a statement.
More was revealed in a new interview with Games Industry International.
"While we expect to continue in our tradition of making big AAA games, we will not rule anything out at this point," said Sams about the studio's new direction. "Said another way, we are platform agnostic at this point - just like most gamers. Further, our technology now supports multiplatform development.
"Since the release of The Order, we have been very hard at work to advance our engine and technology to a place where we can deliver our games on PC, Xbox One, PS4 and one other unannounced platform that you will soon find out about."
Sams elaborated that this may not mean an end to all partnerships, but that the focus is on IP ownership. In the case of The Order, the developer wanted ownership of the IP but at that time, it wasn't possible, according to Sams. Weerasuriya added that The Order was the first block in building a new platform, and that it was never written as a "one-off."
Ready at Dawn would "love to be" part of whatever ends up happening with the franchise, Sams revealed, before changing the subject.
The full interview is definitely well worth your time, if you're interested in first-party publishing dynamics, what Ready at Dawn will be doing going forward, and other general industry talk.