FinBlade opens its doors

UK-based FinBlade has effectively emerged from the ashes of IOMO, which was acquired by Infospace in December 2004, but recently wound down following the latter’s withdrawal from the content sector.

Collectively, the FinBlade team have previously been nominated for three BAFTAs and twice won the Develop Industry Excellence Awards ‘Best Mobile Studio’ gong.

The new company reckons it has spotted a gap in the development market whereby recent consolidation means there aren’t enough independent studios in the market to satisfy the increasing ‘work for hire’ needs of publishers.

As such, it is offering publishers an end-to-end solution, from concept through to reference builds, with in-house porting and QA if required.

FinBlade president John Chasey said: "We had many enquiries at IOMO to develop projects for third-parties, but that approach did not align with our situation as a publisher-owned studio. With FinBlade’s independent developer status we will be perfectly positioned to fulfil those requests."

FinBlade CEO Fergus McNeill said: "Our experience of being part of a publisher has given us a valuable insight into what our clients require at each stage of the process, and the team we’ve built over the last seven years enables us to provide a top quality service from day one."

FinBlade expects to confirm its first projects in August.