Halo creator founds new game studio

Today, Alex Seropian, founder of legendary developer Bungie Studios, announced his new game studio, Wideload Games. The lead force behind Halo, Myth, and Marathon, Seropian began laying the foundations for the independent developer last year but only went public with its creation now.

Wideload is built on a business model Seropian calls a "variant of the model that's been successful in film for some time." The model sees Seropian and his staff create a game "prototype," which is sold into the publishing and distribution channel. Thereafter, Wideload taps independent game talent to complete the product. According to Seropian, the "focus on prototyping and preproduction eliminates many production risks, as the team is able to see all of the technical and creative issues prior to going into full production."

Currently, Wideload has around 10 staffers. However, the studio's ranks are expected to expand to about 50 people for its first project, a PC and Xbox game based on the Halo engine. According to Seropian, the game is due "sometime in 2005." In an interview with GameSpot, he spoke about his plans for Wideload, and the company's unique business model.

Seropian founded Bungie Software in 1991. He sold the company to Microsoft in mid-2000 and moved to Redmond, Washington. In August 2002 he left the company and returned to Chicago. In addition to the above-mentioned titles, Seropian contributed to a number of other games, including Gnop, Operation Desert Storm, Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete, Pathways Into Darkness, Marathon 2: Durandal, Marathon Infinity, Myth: The Fallen Lords, Myth II: Soulblighter, Chimera, and Oni.