"I think everybody agreed that Infinite does its best work when it's independent, and so we headed back out into the wilderness to work on our own stuff again."
- Infinite Interactive creative lead and notable Australian game designer Steve Fawkner explains how his studio, best known for the Warlords and Puzzle Quest series, recently regained its independence from Electronic Arts.
Infinite was absorbed by Flight Control maker and fellow Melbourne studio Firemint last year after eight years of independence, which was then acquired by EA soon afterward. Infinite spun itself off again earlier this year, as EA set in motion a merger between its two Melbourne studios, Firemint and IronMonkey, which Gamasutra reported this morning.
Fawkner is elusive about what's next for Infinite, though he's very strongly hinting that the studio will return to the Puzzle Quest series, which gained something of a cult following by successfully merging RPG and strategy elements into a match-three puzzle game.
Although sadly mostly known for Puzzle Quest these days, Mr. Fawkner was one of the main people in SSG, whose games go back to the '80s. Reach for the Stars, Warlords (the fantasy strategy game with RPG elements), Warlords Battlecry (ditto, but close to the MOBA style games) among others.
Looking forward to see what happens with independence!
Although sadly mostly known for Puzzle Quest these days, Mr. Fawkner was one of the main people in SSG, whose games go back to the '80s. Reach for the Stars, Warlords (the fantasy strategy game with RPG elements), Warlords Battlecry (ditto, but close to the MOBA style games) among others.