Ex-Valve exec leads J.J. Abrams' new game development studio

J.J. Abrams' production company has just announced it is launching a new in-house game development studio, with the introduction of Bad Robot Games.

Bad Robot Games will have Michael Booth as the general manager, with Booth previously at Valve, Blizzard, EA/Westwood, and the founder of Turtle Rock Studio. Booth has been the project lead of some big games including being the creator and lead designer behind Left 4 Dead.

Back in September 2019, Abrams signed a $250 million deal with WarnerMedia that would include new movies, digital content, original TV shows and movies, as well as video games. It seems we're seeing the next stages in that, with Bad Robot Games starting to acquire talent.

Booth said in a statement: "My career has been driven by a desire to innovate new ways of bringing people together for epic adventures online, leaving them with exciting stories they can tell their friends afterwards".

He continued: "The games I create center around people working together to survive and thrive in fantastic worlds, which seems an excellent fit for JJ Abrams' approach to moviemaking. As a huge fan of JJ's work, I'm incredibly excited by the unique opportunity to create something new at Bad Robot Games Studios in collaboration with the world class talent at Bad Robot".

Bad Robot Games CEO Anna Sweet said: "All our projects unite our games industry veterans, our film and TV colleagues, and our larger network of talent (writers, composers, sound designers, concept artists, and more), which uniquely allows us to blend artists, areas of expertise, and perspectives across industries to create truly innovative games. Because of this constant collaboration, we're able to bring a novel, fully integrated approach to cross-medium worldbuilding. Mike is one of the most accomplished game developers in the world and he is constantly looking for ways to advance and innovate to help deliver the most compelling experiences to players".