Bethesda opens new studio with ex-BioWare dev Rich Vogel

Bethesda has announced the establishment of a new Texas-based studio, to be headed by industry veteran and former BioWare Austin vice president Rich Vogel.

The new studio--titled Battlecry Studios--will be based in Austin, alongside ZeniMax's Arkane Studios, the developer behind the upcoming title Dishonored. According to Bethesda, Battlecry is still hiring developers for work on an unannounced project.

"We are very pleased to have someone with Rich's vast experience join us at Bethesda," Bethesda Softworks president Vlatko Andonov said. "Rich has a history of building and managing talented development teams and bringing high quality games to market, and we look forward to working with him on a new, exciting project."

Vogel's past experience includes cofounding BioWare Austin in 2005 and serving as executive producer on the development of Star Wars: The Old Republic. Vogel also worked at 3DO and Sony Online Entertainment, where he brought three other MMORPGs to market, including Meridian 59, Ultima Online, and Star Wars Galaxies.

"I have always admired and respected Bethesda's approach to making great, original games," Vogel said. "It's a belief and passion I share, and I'm looking forward to building a team of high quality developers who want to bring that same commitment and creative energy to the games we'll be creating."

Battlecry Studios is currently hiring for a number of positions, including designers, art directors, programmers and a monetisation designer (a position that hints at the possibility of an online game with a microtransaction model).

Vogel left BioWare earlier this year, after seven years with the company. His departure coincided with news that Star Wars: The Old Republic had lost 400,000 subscribers and that BioWare was considering a change to a free-to-play business model.