Just Cause Dev Avalanche Studios Expands Into North America

Just Cause developer Avalanche Studios has announced the opening of a new studio in New York City, which will concentrate on online-enabled original IP. The Stockholm, Sweden-based company is expanding to New York to focus on AAA titles for next-generation consoles, handhelds and PC. It is set to work on an unannounced title with a targeted release date sometime in 2014. The New York branch is headed by David Grijns, a former Activision and Atari executive, while the unannounced title is being directed by Roland Lesterlin, formerly creative director at Mindspark Interactive. Christofer Sundberg, founder of Avalanche Studios, explained, "While many publishers and developers are expanding their operations in over-crowded areas such as Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle or relocating their staff to Canada, New York provides us with a diverse talent pool from which to create our next big console title." Grijns noted, "It is an honor to work with Christofer and the incredibly talented team at Avalanche. This is the culmination of a shared and long-held dream. Today we are officially putting New York on the game development map." The company is currently developing Renegade Ops, a co-operative shooter that will be available exclusively as a digital download for Xbox Live Arcade, PSN and the PC later this year.