GDC '08: Thriller opens in Austin

SAN FRANCISCO--To most people, the term Thriller is inexorably associated with the King of Pop and arguably the greatest music video of all time. However, that hasn't stopped MicroProse Software vets J.W. "Bill" Stealey, Fred Schmidt, and Jim Bull from choosing the loaded name for their new Austin, Texas-based development and publishing house Thriller Publishing. The studio was announced this week as part of the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

The Thriller team boasts a significant tenure within the industry. In addition to MicroProse, which Stealey cofounded alongside legendary game designer Sid Meier in 1982, Thriller's management team has held senior-level positions at Electronic Arts, NCsoft, Activision, and Mattel Electronics.

"We have over 100 years of game publishing expertise among our senior management alone, always working with first-rate development talent," said newly installed Thriller president and CEO Fred Schmidt.

While no projects have yet been announced by the nascent studio, Thriller plans to focus its efforts on military and espionage-themed games. To help it do so, the studio has tapped New York Times best-selling authors who are "widely recognized and well regarded in their genres to create and develop popular new characters and storylines with the potential for game sequels and sustainable series." The studio did not reveal which writers it had signed, saying only that the first authors would be revealed soon.

Thriller plans to create products for retail and online distribution and hopes to hit all major gaming platforms, including the PC, consoles, and mobile, as well as create games in the massively multiplayer online space. Fitting in well with its professed military theme, the studio plans to focus on the first-person shooter, action, adventure, and simulation genres, as well as "maybe a serious game or two also. We'll see."