Zoe Mode announced today that they will be launching their newest studio. Titled Zoe Mode San Francisco, this new studio will officially open June 1, 2009 and will be headed up by Co-Studio Heads Sarah Stocker and Mark Danks.
"With the growth of both our Brighton and London studios, we've been looking for an opportunity to form a U.S. studio that can build upon our successes in the genre and bring us even closer to our U.S. consumers and West Coast publishing partners," says Ed Daly, Worldwide General Manager of Zoe Mode. "We're excited to have Sarah and Mark join the Zoe team to lead that effort and provide us with access to the tremendous creative and technical talent in the San Francisco Bay area."
Stocker has over 16 years of experience working in game development and publishing. She has worked as Executive Producer for Glu Mobile, running the company's North American production, and she has over ten years leading teams at the now defunct Stormfront Studios. Stocker most recently led Sony Computer Entertainment's Studio 5 as Senior Producer, responsible for launching the SingStar franchise in the U.S.
"Zoe Mode has an unrivaled track record as the premiere independent developer for music and party games" says Stocker. "Mark and I are excited to join the rest of the Zoe team in extending that experience into the next generation of social games on console and beyond."
Danks has a long history of collaboration with Stocker, having worked as Studio Technical Director for Stormfront Studios. He has also dealt with game development from a technical and business perspective as Director of Technology for Electronic Arts. Danks was most recently at Sony Computer Entertainment, directing PlayStation's developer outreach as Senior Manager of Developer Relations.
"With Zoe SF we're able to combine the passion and excitement of start-up culture with the established infrastructure of an existing successful studio system," says Danks. "This lets us focus on building a great team and making great games. It's a tribute to Zoe Mode's success and the strength of the Kuju Entertainment studio network that even in this economy, we're in the enviable position of expanding."
