French developer Kobojo opens Dundee studio

French RPG developer Kobojo has opened a new office in Dundee, Scotland.

The studio employs 17 staff, recruited from the local community and its head office in Paris. It is currently focused on game development, with commercial operations centred in France.

By next year Kobojo aims to house some 40 staff at its Scottish base.

Speaking to Develop, studio director Chris Stamp, formerly executive producer at Realtime Worlds, said the decision to expand into Scotland was based on the local ecosystem for games development.

“The office in Dundee is a key element in Kobojo’s transition from casual genres for the Facebook platform to multi-platform experiences for a mid-core gamers looking for that triple-A quality,” he said.

“The Dundee team provides a balance of skills complementary to Kobojo’s established teams in Paris, bringing extensive experience in technically ambitious development projects with longer lifecycles.”

The developer is currently working on 2D online RPG Zodiac at its Paris, Dundee and Tokyo studios, and has recruited the likes of Final Fantasy composer Hitoshi Sakimoto and scenario writer Kazushige Nojima to work on the game.