Game industry veteran Paul Neurath (
Ultima Underworld,
System Shock 2) has founded a new Boston-based studio,
Otherside Entertainment, and secured the right to develop a new
Underworld game:
Underworld Ascension.
"With
Underworld Ascension, we are excited to be bringing back the
Underworld franchise, making it more vital than ever before,” stated Neurath in a press release announcing his new company's debut project.
Neurath will serve as CEO of Otherside, which bills itself as a studio focused on bringing "reboots of classic game franchises" to "core gamers."
It's worth noting that Neurath founded Blue Sky Research -- the company that would go on to become Looking Glass Studios -- in 1990 with the express purpose of developing a fantasy RPG called
Underworld. That game was later rebranded as
Ultima Underworld as part of a publishing agreement with Origin Systems.
While Neurath most recently served as creative director of Zynga Boston, he is perhaps best known as the cofounder (alongside Ned Lerner) of Looking Glass, where he worked as creative director until the studio closed in 2000. Shortly thereafter he founded Floodgate Studios, which was
acquired by Zynga in 2011.
