Michael Condrey, the former lead developer for Dead Space and Call of Duty titles, has been signed by Take-Two’s 2K label. Condrey will head up a new Take-Two studio based in Silicon Valley, though it’s all still very early days. Condrey is yet to form a leadership team and was reluctant to speak about any upcoming projects.
Speaking with Gamesindustry.biz, Condrey said that the appeal of heading up a new studio was too good to turn down, explaining that one “of the most exciting things about setting up a new studio is the opportunity, from a clean canvas, to shape the commitment to culture from the start.” It’ll be the second studio that Condrey will have helped set up after co-founding Sledgehammer Games with Glen Schofield back in 2009.
It sounds like Condrey is looking to break out of his comfort zone with the new studio as well. While he didn’t give any specifics as to what this, as-yet-unnamed studio, is up to, he was pretty clear about where the onus is. He said that the studio is going to be working on “high quality, ambitious and innovative games that connect people across the planet.” And while that sounds like a string of buzz-words meshed together, Condrey has a proven history of exploring strong, narrative-driven games in Dead Space, while the work he’s done for the Call of Duty series gave way to some memorable multiplayer moments. With the back catalog of impressive genre-defining titles that Condrey has worked on previously, it’ll be interesting to see what direction he takes the new studio in.
While Condrey will operate under the 2K label, his new studio will have a similar autonomy to how it works and the type of games it produces as the other studios Take-Two own. It’s a position that Condrey appears to be relishing as he goes to work putting together his leadership team. He said that the “new studio, with no legacy creative or technology constraints in place, has tremendous latitude to explore, take risks and ultimately chart the most exciting and ambitious course available.” Sure, we might not see anything from Condrey for a while but it certainly sounds like the studio will be worth keeping an eye on.
