Blizzard And Fallout Veterans Making A MMORPG For NCsoft

Carbine Studios, the group formed a couple of years ago by ten former members of Blizzard's World of Warcraft core development team, has finally stepped out into the light to tease us with a communique in which they practically reveal their existence as part of NCsoft's family of studios. Their first project is a MMORPG they insist on keeping shrouded in mystery (or simply in darkness) for the time being. However, Carbine's website might give us a few hints about the nature of their MMO: it greets us with a somewhat fantasy drawing, also offered as a wallpaper in their Downloads section, along with a second artwork.

The reason I insisted on drawing attention to these guys however is not as much their first game, as the people developing it. Currently, the studio hosts 17 former Blizzard employees, and it's run by three respectable veterans: Kevin Beardslee (lead developer on World of Warcraft), Jeremy Gaffney (executive producer on City of Heroes, and co-founder of Turbine back in the days of Asheron's Call) and, not least of all, Tim Cain.

Tim Cain is perhaps the most resounding name, since he was the producer, lead programmer and designer on the post-apocalyptic RPG by excellence - Fallout - as well as co-founder of the Troika Games studio that followed Black Isle's demise (although it too succumbed, sadly). "A dev team made in heaven", as it's called by Robert Garriott, CEO for NCsoft's North American business (not to be confused with his more famous brother Richard Garriott).

"This group is as experienced as they come in the area of computer role playing and multiplayer game design. Making successful games is second nature to them. They are a very welcome addition to the NCsoft family. The gaming community should be excited to see what great things come out of Carbine Studios in the coming years", added the older Garriott.

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)