Checkpoint Studios Formed by EA, Sony Vets - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 15 May 2012 / 6,869 Views
Electronic Arts and Sony Computer Entertainment veterans have formed a new studio, Checkpoint Studios. The studio will be focusing on social games, with its first game AviNation to be released on Facebook. In the game you use airplanes in order to build your own empire.
Checkpoint Studios describes itself as "committed to creating socially-connected gaming experiences designed to entertain everyone. By taking a more progressive approach to the rapidly growing world of social games, we are fueled by a mission to make the future of fun a reality by making games for social and mobile platforms more engaging, more connected and, most importantly, more fun-to-play."
"When I first started playing social games, I was frustrated by what I felt was a lack of quality and real game play in so many of the titles," said Brian Wiklem, CEO and Founder of Checkpoint Studios. "The click-reward-repeat nature felt more like an activity or social chore than a game and, while there's clearly an audience for that, I know we can do better."
"While at Heavy Iron, I worked closely with Pixar to create the console versions of several of their properties such as Ratatouille and Up for THQ," Wiklem continued. "I once asked how they made such successful kids' movies, to which they responded that they didn't make kids' movies, but instead 'made movies they would want to watch'. That philosophy really resonated and stuck with me, so our driving force is to make social games we'd actually want to play."
