California-based CastAR is opening up a new studio in Utah’s Salt Lake City, staffed in part by former Avalanche Software devs, that will focus on developing “mixed-reality experiences” for the CastAR headset.
It’s nice to see CastAR making a show of announcing a new studio “driven by former Avalanche Software talent”, since Avalanche was effectively shuttered in May after Disney decided it was done with the console games business.
Roughly 300 people reportedly lost jobs as a result of Avalanche’s closure; presumably not all of them came to work at CastAR’s new SLC digs, but enough did that the company is touting their experience on Disney Infinity as being foundational to the new studio.
“Our new castAR SLC team has creatively-inspired talent that has delivered at the highest levels of quality. We’re excited to have them join us in creating a new generation of gaming through mixed reality experiences,” CastAR president Steve Parkis stated in a press release.
“With their experience in bringing massive franchises to life through breakthrough interactive design, the addition of this team is our next bold step in launching a dynamic platform that will bring awe-inspiring mixed reality to households.”
Parkis, of course, was recently hired by CastAR to help lead the company’s charge into the consumer-grade headset market. Prior to that he worked in an executive capacity at game companies like Storm8, Zynga — and Disney.
While CastAR headset prototypes have been in the wild for some time, the headset itself isn’t expected to hit retail store shelves until later this year.