ArenaNet co-founder and Undead Labs founder Jeff Strain has established a new 'distributed game development studio' called Possibility Space alongside industry veterans from Double Fine, Valve, Oculus, EA, and more.
The Possibility Space team already includes notable names like visual director Jane Ng (Campo Santo, Valve), IP director Austin Walker (Waypoint Media, Friends at the Table podcast), simulation and narrative systems director Liz England (Ubisoft, Insomniac), and design director Richard Foge (Undead Labs, ProbablyMonsters).
Possibility Space said its distributed model allows staff "to live where they want to live and work where they want while supporting the communities they love."
The studio itself will be based in New Orleans, Louisiana, and intends to create "joyful games around human experiences." Explaining why he chose to form Possibility Space at this point in time, Strain indicated the pandemic had given him the push needed to create something new.
"We felt this was the right time to create something new -- a studio built from the ground up to embrace evolving needs and perspectives for both players and developers," he commented in a press release.
"Like many others, the past year and a half has been a fraught time for me. While I am grateful that my family is safe, the anxiety, fear, and isolation of the last 18 months has been almost unbearable at times. That fear and isolation was the catalyst for Possibility Space, a modern kind of game studio, where we are creating a joyful game that’s been my dream for many years. I’m delighted and grateful for the team that has chosen to share in this vision and bring it life."
A blurb on the Possibility Space website notes the studio is looking to identify, mentor, train, and hire individuals from "underserved and overlooked communities and backgrounds," and is currently working to bolster its dev team.