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Electronic Arts has announced a new partnership with Velan Studios to publish its first original IP. The collaboration will see Velan double its development team from 40 to 80 by the end of 2019.
The “team-based action” game will introduce “a unique game world” for players on Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and mobile.
“In EA Partners, we found a team devoted to bringing breakthrough ideas to players everywhere. They believe in our creative vision and will use their best-in-class resources to support the success of our game,” said Guha Bala, President and co-founder, Velan Studios. “We started Velan Studios to make community-centered play experiences that are daring and distinctive from what’s being played today. We can’t wait to share the details of our first original game in the future.”
“Exploring the boundaries of play with new technology and play patterns is what makes us tick,” said Karthik Bala, CEO and other co-founder of Velan Studios. “Our plan was always simple: build an awesome team, find the magic in something new that the team was passionate about and then enable their success. We are looking forward to introducing their vision and evolving it along with players for many years to come.”
“Velan’s vision for this new game experience is very inspiring, and when we played it, we were immediately captured by how engaging and unexpectedly compelling it was,” added Rob Letts, general manager of EA Partners and EA Originals. “Helping discover pioneering talent with ground-breaking games the world needs to play is what we’re here to do, and we look forward to partnering with Velan to deliver an experience that will push the boundaries of original IP and innovation to engage players in new ways.”
New York-based Velan Studios was founded in 2016 by Vicarious Visions founders Guha and Karthik Bala. It is now “actively recruiting other seasoned developers” to the team. For more, head to velanstudios.com.
