Report: Second New Studio Formed By Laid-Off Split/Second Developers

Former employees of Disney-owned Black Rock Studios consisting of veterans from Split/Second and the Burnout series have formed a new small studio called ShortRound Games, according to a report. Speaking to UK site GamesIndustry.biz [registration required], ShortRound game director Andrew Hubbard said, "We've just been made redundant from Black Rock which has given us a great opportunity to achieve what we all came into this industry to do; make games that we want to play and in the way that we want to make them." This is the second known studio to splinter off from the remains of Black Rock, which saw mass layoffs early last month. The other, as Gamasutra previously reported, is called Roundcube. According to the report, ShortRound currently consists of the aforementioned game director Andrew Hubbard, technical director Kim Burrows, technical art director Stuart Pharoah and creative and art director Steve Uphill. The studio was first founded in August of last year, well before the layoffs. According to Hubbard, the studio has two demos already underway, and seems interested in creating games for touchscreen-based platforms. "As for publishers and platforms, we're in talks with various publishers but not ruling out being self published and are keen to release on iPad or even Sony's Vita," Hubbard said. "One thing that we know is that we want to make games that really suit the platform, there's too many iOS games that don't feel natural on a touch screen and leave you yearning for a joypad." Black Rock's massive redundancies left an estimated 30 employees at the studio out of an approximate staff of 140, according to reports, and were part of a series of moves by Disney to increase its focus on social gaming, which CEO Bob Iger says is "here to stay."