DICE Founder Unveils New Free-To-Play Studio, First Game

Fredrik Liljegren, who founded the Swedish DICE studio later acquired by Electronic Arts, now has a new studio in Antic Entertainment, and is focused on the free-to-play game space. Antic's first title will be Junk: Battles, a free-to-play realtime action-strategy title for major web browsers. Users build their own craft to battle other users online, raising stats and earning more parts to upgrade their ships. Liljegren is joined by Digital Extremes vets Mark Mikulec and Jeff Evans in founding London, Ontario-based Antic. Its team has experience on franchises including DICE's Battlefield series, Digital Extremes' Dark Sector, and 2K's BioShock. Though the studio will focus at first on free-to-play games for web browsers and iPhone, it hopes to expand its endeavors to "all viable platforms." "Antic Entertainment's focus is to bring that AAA quality to our free-to-play titles, giving us tremendous opportunity for growth," says Liljegren. "This sector of the industry is just now coming into the limelight, as the consumer is adapting and seeking more flexible and efficient ways to play games." "We're confident that our creative approach and well established development processes will address this market in new and exciting ways."