In the wake of the cut backs at Bioware Austin following the release and response to Star Wars: The Old Republic. Bethesda Softworks have moved to open a Austin based studio headed by the former executive producer on Star Wars: The Old Republic, industry veteran Rich Vogel called Battlecry Studios.
"I have always admired and respected Bethesda's approach to making great, original games," said Vogel. "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 wokring on an unannounced project, but given Vogel's pedigree in the MMO space, it is not a far stretch, especially as the studio is looking to hire a "monetization designer" and a "senior client programmer", whose tasks include responding to "client emergencies in the live game". Sounds like some kind of free-to-play online game, and given Bethesda has recently sorted out the Fallout MMO rights, well... perhaps we shouldn't jump to conclusions.
"We are very pleased to have someone with Rich's vast experience join us at Bethesda," said Vlatko Andonov, President of Bethesda Softworks. "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."
It is unclear whether more of Vogel's former colleagues are joining him at Battlecry Studios, but it is highly likely given the recent lay-offs at Bioware Austin. It should also be noted that Austin is also the location of another Bethesda owned studio - Arkane - who have just finished up on Dishonored.