Vancouver has a new game studio in 2024.
Late last year, it was announced by Chinese tech giant NetEase Games that a new studio would launch in Vancouver, one of Canada’s hottest regions for game development.
The new studio, dubbed Worlds Untold, is a Triple-A development studio.
Worlds Untold carries the aim of “creating interactive narratives that blur the line between games and film in order to create a sense of immersion and engagement with their worlds and characters unlike any other,” according to a statement from the firm.
The Vancouver studio will be headed by Mac Walters, who previously spent nearly two decades working for BioWare in Edmonton, and is known for his work on the Mass Effect game franchise.
“We’re creating incredible and meaningful stories that we believe are best told and experienced through play,” explained chief executive Walters in November. “We are starting by crafting worlds that we all dream of discovering and then will put the player in the leading role of the most unforgettable adventures.”
His team’s debut project is already underway. Set in the near future, Walters says the inaugural title will offer action and adventure “in a breathtaking world filled with mystery and exploration.”
Moreover, the “depth and possibility” of Worlds Untold’s intellectual property “can’t be contained in a single game, or even a single medium,” according to the fledging studio—but exactly how that will play out remains to be seen.
“Worlds Untold is building a team of highly experienced individuals to develop new worlds and action adventure games for all and we are excited to see what Mac and the team produce,” stated Simon Zhu, president of global investments and partnerships at NetEase Games.
“NetEase Games believes in empowering creators to think outside the box and to help execute their vision as seamlessly as possible,” he continued.
“The team at NetEase Games shares our vision and passion to utilize leading edge technology to create the best possible new games,” Walters added. “Their teams’ support and creative freedom affords us the opportunity to deliver on that vision.”
NetEase in 2019 launched its first Canadian studio, NetEase Montreal. And last year, NetEase acquired AAA game developer SkyBox Labs, which was founded in Burnaby in 2011.
The China-born behemoth was established in Guangzhou in 1997.
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