Following Blizzard’s decision to halt further updates for StarCraft II, several members of its development team, backed by gaming investors, have banded together to form a new studio. Tim Morten, the former production director for StarCraft II, and Tim Campbell, the lead campaign designer for WarCraft III, have launched Frost Giant Studios.
The new Orange County-based studio received nearly $4.7 million in seed funding from Bitkraft Ventures, as well as participation from 1 Up Ventures, GC Tracker, Riot Games, and Griffin Gaming Partners, the company said in a statement.
According to Scott Rupp, Founding General Partner at Bitkraft Ventures, “Frost Giant Studios is on a mission to bring one of the most beloved genres to a broader audience. We are excited to see some of the most experienced leaders in real-time strategy game development come together to build a game that will secure the future growth of the RTS genre while staying true to the core player fantasy of RTS.”
Frost Giant Studios is expected to use the experience of its developers to combine elements of real-time strategy games with features from battle royale games to enhance gameplay and promote competitiveness. The team will work with pro players, casters, and casuals to make RTS accessible to all players, not just die-hard gamers.
“Real-time strategy players are an incredibly passionate community, and they deserve not just a great new game, but one they can share broadly with friends. Building a worthy successor will take time, but we’re incredibly excited and grateful to carry real-time strategy forward at Frost Giant Studios,” Morten said.
In terms of aesthetics, Morten has said that he is drawn to the comic book visual style created by Blizzard art director Sam Didier. However, Frost Giant will also take inspiration from popular games like Fortnite, Among Us or Fall Guys.
Morton and Campbell will be joined at the new studio by Cara LaForge, a former senior program manager at Blizzard Esports, Jesse Brophy, former lead artist on StarCraft II and principal artist on Diablo IV, Ryan Schutter, former lead designer on StarCraft II and creator of GameHeart, and Kevin Dong, former lead co-op designer on StarCraft II and project manager for Team Liquid, among others.
Source: Tech Crunch