Remedy Entertainment Co-Founder Establishes Recoil Games
Samuli Syvähuoko, co-founder and former managing director of Max Payne creator Remedy Entertainment, has announced the formation of Recoil Games Ltd., a new studio dedicated to console and PC game development. Joining Syvähuoko are other former Remedy staffers as well as developers hailing from studios such as Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Guerrilla Games, Codemasters, Treyarch, Bugbear, and Housemarque.
"The gaming industry is growing rapidly, and Finland has a strong cluster of expertise in the field. Founding a new development studio with a team of industry veterans is an exciting opportunity that has quickly attracted the attention of international game production companies and investors," said Syvähuoko, who will serve as Recoil's studio director. "Recoil Games titles will focus not only on compelling storylines and state-of-the-art visuals, but also on superb playability. Our long-term goal is to become a world-class game development company by building original IP game franchises that will reach hit status worldwide."
Recoil's first project is an original action game targeting PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC. Among the studio's goals are to create games "with the scope, feel and ensemble cast of disaster movies." Towards that end, Recoil will make use of what it calls its "Cinegames design techniques," which promise to deliver intelligent game characters capable of working together to overcome obstacles--including tackling "internal human conflict," which Recoil feels is lacking from modern games.
Helsinki-based Recoil, which opened its doors this January, currently numbers about 20 employees, with plans to grow to 50 during development of its first game. The company is currently looking for a senior programmer, lead AI programmer, lead graphics programmer, and level designer. For more information, check out the official Recoil Games site.
