Halfbrick's Sydney Studio State-Funded, Working On New Fruit Ninja

The new Sydney branch of Australian developer and publisher Halfbrick, maker of popular iOS game Fruit Ninja, is being funded as part of the state's 3 million Australian dollar Interactive Media Fund. New South Wales deputy premier Andrew Stoner also revealed that the Sydney studio will be focusing on "the next evolution of the Fruit Ninja games franchise." He then went on to explain the concept for the next Fruit Ninja title, which involved players launching fruit to knock ninjas from towers -- however, the Halfbrick studio later denied that Stoner's description had anything to do with its new game, reports GameSpot. "At this stage, we are beginning the prototyping phase of our Sydney-based Fruit Ninja project, and all gameplay details are still completely unconfirmed," said Halfbrick's marketing director Phil Larsen. "We'll be making something new, and it will be a great addition to our Fruit Ninja franchise, but the game could definitely take many different directions -- the team is just getting started, and game development is a long and complicated road!" Regarding the fund, Stoner noted, "This fund will help NSW build its share of the high-value digital games sector, which will be increasingly important in developing serious business and education tools, as well as entertainment games, like the latest Fruit Ninja project."