Officials from Gizmondo Europe, a subsidiary of the Florida-based Tiger Telematics, have announced plans for the company to open an office in Los Angeles prior to the Giz...
Officials from Gizmondo Europe, a subsidiary of the Florida-based Tiger Telematics, have announced plans for the company to open an office in Los Angeles prior to the Gizmondo handheld’s launch in the U.S. this August, in tandem with a company restructuring which has led to unspecified "streamlining" in the company's European studios. As part of a "company-wide operational restructure and right sizing" of European operations, Gizmondo Studios (which includes acquisitions from Swedish-based Indie Studios, and the former Warthog studios in both Manchester and Sweden) will be consolidated, and overheads will be reduced by half, to reflect the co-publishing and development commitments from major game publishers, which has apparently “significantly lessened the need for internally biased game development programs”. Some employees will be relocating as part of the move bringing teams in house, principally into the L.A. facility, which will host a new game development division. This new internal technology R&D team will attempt to specialize in developing gaming applications which utilize the unique GPS, camera technology, and GPRS connectivity of the Gizmondo device. Carl Freer, co-founder and Chairman, Tiger Telematics, says: "Over the past 18 months the company has grown aggressively and organically to meet the challenges of our primary launch territories. Now, following several months of internal consultation and investment scrutiny, we're able to streamline our European and development operations to ensure we're lean, effective, and structured appropriately for pending ventures." The Gizmondo first launched in Europe in March to little obvious sales success, partly due to high prices and an extremely limited games catalogue. The company has also been dogged by serious financial concerns, leaving some to doubt the company’s ability to organize a successful launch in the U.S. where, unlike in Europe, both the Nintendo DS and PSP have been established for some time now.
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