Mega toy brand Hasbro has opened a video game studio “led by industry veterans from WB Games and other AAA studios” through its games division Wizards of the Coast. This is according to the job description added to various lists for new roles. The studio, simply referred to as "New Raleigh-Durham Studio", will be making a GI Joe game as its first project.
The job postings call it "AAA 3rd Person Action/Adventure game" and confirms it will be multiplatform. Qualifications listed in the four roles (technical director, art director, chief game designer, and chief animator) require experience with the Unreal engine as well as knowledge of broad video game elements such as "progression" and "exploration mechanics."
The third person action game sounds like a fit for GI Joe, but unlike the XCOM grunts, I think it would be perfect for a turn-based tactics game where you take over Cobra Island with a team of experts all with built-in skills. and personalities—wait, I think I just invented the Jagged Alliance.
During a Hasbro investor event earlier this year, Wizards of the Coast president Chris Cocks talked about “using some perennial Hasbro favorites with an eye towards digitally enhancing them,” and said, “We will bring these brands into digital life and develop experiences that resonate around the world.” A lifestyle player in new, fresh and provocative ways.” The Hasbro brands he refers to are GI Joe, Transformers, Micronauts, and Ouija – as with the Ouija board, yes it is a brand, and Hasbro has trademarked it since 1948.
