BioWare, Zynga, EA, Playdom Vets Launch Action-Focused Freemium Startup

Game industry veterans from BioWare, Electronic Arts, Zynga and Playdom have teamed up to create Rumble, a company focused on merging fast-paced action games with the casual free-to-play PC market. Rumble is the brainchild of former BioWare/Pandemic CEO Greg Richardson, whose career also includes executive stints at 3DO, Eidos, EA and, most recently, tech investment firm Elevation partners. To launch the company, Richardson has teamed up with Playdom founder and chairman Rick Thompson, who has put in $2 million in seed funding and will serve on the new company's board. Other partners in Rumble include Zynga game designer and CityVille lead designer John Yoo, EA2D vice president Mark Spenner and former EA VP and CTO David O'Connor. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal about Rumble's plans, Richardson said the company will publish titles from outside developers starting in early 2012, attempting to avoid titles that are overly complex. Richardson said the company is drawing inspiration from Nintendo titles like Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart, PC games like Diablo and Civilization and arcade classics like Gauntlet, Joust and Pac-Man.