Developer 2015 Gets Funding, Opens Casual Game Studio

Independent studio 2015, Inc. has opened a new development branch, Tornado Studios, focused on casual games for the mass market. "The success of Nintendo's latest consoles, and the recent growth of the casual games market as a whole, has provided an incredible opportunity for us to reach a whole new audience," said 2015 founder Tom Kurdika. The company has secured an undisclosed injection of funding in the range of "several million dollars" that will apparently be applied to both Tornado and 2015 proper. Kurdika noted that his studio, best known for its acclaimed PC FPS Medal of Honor: Allied Assault and its original IP Men of Valor, will continue developing the kind of games with which it is associated. Rich Valiquette, a veteran of Medal of Honor publisher Electronic Arts, has also joined 2015 as development director. "We're still passionate about action games and shooters, in particular, and will continue to make them under the 2015 label," he said. Today's news should increase the likelihood the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based studio will live to celebrate its eighteenth birthday in its namesake year when, according to Toys for Bob's Star Control series, nearly a million will perish in an event known as the Small War.