JJ Abrams' production company Bad Robot now has a games division
In partnership with Tencent.
JJ Abrams' Bad Robot, the entertainment production company responsible for the likes of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Lost, Cloverfield, Fringe, and Westworld, now has a fully-fledged games division.
Bad Robots Games, as the new division is known, was formed in partnership with Chinese tech conglomerate Tencent, with Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment as a minority investor. As relayed by the Hollywood Reporter, it will see Bad Robot's in-house visual artists, designers, and writers join forces with established developers to create projects for PC, console, and mobile - both at a large and smaller indie-level scale.
Dave Baronoff, who's been in charge of Bad Robot's previous, smaller-scale games and interactive content efforts (under the banner Bad Robot Interactive), will run the new games division, and will be joined by Duskers designer Tim Keenan in the role of creative director. As part of the deal, Tencent will have the commercial rights to distribute Bad Robot games in Asia.
Bad Robot is currently co-developing Spyjinx (described as an espionage-themed blend of "action strategy gameplay, dynamic world building and RPG character development"), alongside Epic Games and Infinity Blade developer Chair. Beyond that, however, there's no suggestion of what Bad Robot Games might turn its attention to next.
"I'm a massive games fan," said Abrams as part of the announcement, "and increasingly envious of the amazing tools developers get to work with, and the worlds they get to play in. Now we are doubling down on our commitment to the space with a unique co-development approach to game making that allows us to focus on what we do best".