NCsoft's Dream Team

Carbine Studios, a team in Orange County comprised of a number of World of Warcraft veterans, is officially a part of the NCsoft family. The studio is looking to expand and is currently working on an unannounced MMO project for NCsoft.

Korean online games giant NCsoft today officially took the wraps off its latest studio acquisition, Carbine Studios. The Aliso Viejo, California-based studio was originally formed back in 2005 by ten former members of Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft core development team. According to NCsoft, the team is now up to 17 former Blizzard employees. And some members have ties to hit games such as Starcraft and Fallout.

Carbine co-founder Kevin Beardslee, who serves as the vice president of design, was a lead developer on World of Warcraft. Tim Cain, Carbine's programming director, was the producer, lead programmer and designer on Fallout; he was also co-founder of Troika Games. In addition, Carbine's Executive Producer Jeremy Gaffney previously worked as executive producer on City of Heroes, and established the product development group at NCsoft's Austin headquarters as VP of development. Previously Gaffney was the co-founder of Turbine, Inc., where he spearheaded development on the popular MMO Asheron's Call.

"This is a dev team made in heaven," said Robert Garriott, CEO for NCsoft's North American business. "This group is as experienced as they come in the area of computer role playing and multiplayer game design. Making successful games is second nature to them. They are a very welcome addition to the NCsoft family. The gaming community should be excited to see what great things come out of Carbine Studios in the coming years."

"NCsoft's established global infrastructure, commitment to their development studios and passion for online gaming makes them an ideal partner," says Carbine co-founder Kevin Beardslee. "In the coming months Carbine Studios will continue to grow and we look forward to bringing many more talented industry professionals into our fold."

Details are scarce, but NCsoft said that Carbine is currently working on an unannounced project that "promises to break new ground in massively multiplayer gaming."

As Carbine is looking to expand, the studio is currently hiring. According to the jobs page, Carbine is searching for a lead level designer, a senior programmer, a senior tools engineer, and several others.

source: http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=17667