Funcom opens new casual subsidiary

MMO publisher-developer Funcom has opened a new subsidiary conceived to deal specifically with its ventures in the casual and social gaming sectors.

The studio, named SweetRobot, is already at work on an original MMO named Pets vs. Monsters, which enters public beta testing later this month.

"SweetRobot will be focusing on publishing games outside the traditional high-end MMO-segment which Funcom has been focusing on the last years," said Funcom CEO Trond Arne Aas. "This will allow us to explore new market opportunities that differ from what we have been doing before while still retaining Funcom’s familiar profile. This definitely marks a new and exciting direction for us."

A team of fifteen has been working on Pets vs. Monsters for two years at Funcom, simultaneously building a new game engine designed to offer a flexible development platform for numerous different projects. SweetRobot has described the soon-to-be-released game as a chance to experiment with different concepts, gameplay mechanisms and business models.

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