Game industry veteran Nolan Bushnell has made a deal with Dutch game company Spil Games that will see the two working together to design and launch three or more mobile games.
That's an intriguing proposition given that Bushnell has seemingly never made a mobile game before; he's been heavily involved in the game industry since cofounding the company that would become Atari in 1969, but chiefly as an entrepreneur and engineer.
However, his partnership with developer/publishers Spil (which shifted focus in the past few years from browser-based games to mobile games) is well in line with his long-running interest in how game companies adapt to shifting markets -- from the fall of arcades to the rise of "casual" games.
"The fact that Nolan chooses to work with Spil Games is a huge validation of our approach to mobile gaming,” stated Spil chief Tung Nguyen-Khac in a press release confirming the partnership. “Our game development and producer team strike the right balance between creativity and commercial knowhow. Our team is stoked to be working with Nolan and feeding off his energy and creativity.”
Bushnell and Spil, which currently operates mobile games like Highway Rally and Operate Now: Tonsil Surgery, intend to release their first mobile game collaboration early next year.