Marc Ecko Expands Gaming Interest, Creates Game Studio

Clothing designer Marc Ecko, who partnered with Atari last year to produce Mark Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure, has announced the opening of Marc Ecko Entertainment (MEE), "an organization focused on originating, funding, and developing interactive properties." The new division, headed by Marc Ecko Enterprises’ Mike Lynch, will focus on identifying new properties and working with publishers to bring them to market, with the new president noting that the division already has big plans in the works. “Since the launch of Marc’s first game, Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure, last year, we have begun cultivating new game concepts, funding interesting titles that were already in development, and keeping an eye out for progressive ideas,” commented Lynch. “One of our initial projects is with a developer that was responsible for one of the biggest hits of 2006. We’ll be announcing details on this game very soon.” MEE officials note that Ecko himself will maintain an active role within the division, participating in the creative vision while Lynch will oversee a team that includes two industry professionals. Marc Fernandez, who founded mobile entertainment company Cashmere Games and has worked on previous Rockstar Games releases such as Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, has been appointed as MEE's "vice president of creative," according to today's press release. In addition, former Acclaim executive Shawn Rosen has taken up the role of the division's executive producer of external development. Commenting on the founding of the new video game focused organization, Ecko noted, “There are so many great ideas out there that either aren’t getting the attention they need or are being completely ignored. We will work with the visionaries of the medium and get these inventive titles in the hands of gamers.”