San Ramon, Calif. – June 25, 2020 – As Striking Distance Studios observes its one-year anniversary on June 26, the company is celebrating having hired over 100 people as the studio continues to expand its diverse and accomplished team. In addition to its headquarters in San Ramon, California, Striking Distance Studios has also opened a second location in Spain. Striking Distance’s all-star developers are hard at work on an all-new narrative game in the PUBG universe that will push the boundaries of interactive storytelling.
Founded last summer by visionary game creator Glen Schofield (CEO), some of Striking Distance Studios’ earliest hires were a veteran executive team including longtime Schofield collaborators Christopher Stone (Chief Creative Office) and Steve Papoutsis (Chief Development Officer). Stone served as Sr Animation Director at Visceral Games, Sledgehammer Games and Sony Interactive Entertainment and Papoutsis previously served as the vice president, general manager, and executive producer at Visceral Games. They are joined by Stacey Hirata (COO & Vice President of Marketing), who brings her experience leading marketing and operations teams at companies such as Activision, BANDAI NAMCO, and SNK Corporation of America. Mark James (Chief Technology Officer), recently served as a vice president of technology at 2K Games and has also held key technology positions at Zynga, LucasArts, Vivendi Games, and PlayStation.
“Striking Distance might be a new studio by name, but the heart of this team has a long history together built around a shared drive to produce iconic gaming experiences,” said Schofield. “We’re a studio made up of industry veterans as well as fresh new talent that I’m excited to be working with for the first time. I’m eager to see who else we bring on board as we press forward with development.”
Striking Distance Studios has grown to include numerous award-winning industry veterans who previously served under the leadership of Schofield including Colin Mackie (Design Director), Primo Navidad (Animation Director), and Scott Whitney (Creative Director). The developers’ past works include the production of the Dead Space series and multiple entries in Activision’s Call of Duty franchise.
The returning team members are joined by new additions coming from many of the industry's most respected development studios, including Rockstar Games, Naughty Dog Inc., Respawn Entertainment, PlayStation Studios, Telltale Games, and more. Longtime industry professionals such as Nassim Ait-Kaci (Audio Director), Glauco Longhi (Character Director), Kelvin Chu (Character Technical Art Director), David Guzman (Senior AI Engineer), Simon Clay (Technical Director), and Mark Sheppard (Environment Artist) bring their experience working on a number of critically acclaimed AAA games across multiple platforms and genres, and their credits include franchises such a Star Wars, Bioshock, Assassin's Creed, Gears of War, Uncharted, Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider, God of War, and more.
In addition to growing the team, the studio has also expanded to a second location in Zaragoza, Spain. This location will be managed by Director of Creative Engineering Jorge Jimenez whose team will assist in development of the highly anticipated AAA game across a variety of disciplines. Jimenez is considered one of the games industry’s premiere experts in rendering realism.
“Jorge is one of the most talented engineers that I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with and we’re excited that he will lead Striking Distance Studios Spain in his home city of Zaragoza,” added Schofield.
Striking Distance Studios continues to hire for additional positions in both San Ramon and Spain. Details are available at http://www.StrikingDistanceStudios.com.
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ABOUT STRIKING DISTANCE STUDIOS
Based in San Ramon, CA, in the San Francisco Bay Area, Striking Distance Studios is a AAA development studio creating narrative experiences in the PUBG Universe. As a wholly-owned studio of PUBG Corp., Striking Distance is committed to crafting thought-provoking immersive experiences, driven by a passion for quality and excellence. Striking Distance is helmed by Glen Schofield, the creator of Dead Space and founder of Sledgehammer Games. For more information about Striking Distance Studios, please visit www.StrikingDistanceStudios.com or follow us on Twitter @SD_Studios.
ABOUT PUBG CORPORATION
PUBG Corporation is the publisher and developer of the 2017 blockbuster battle royale video game, PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS (PUBG). Since its release, PUBG has received worldwide acclaim, achieving seven Guinness World Records and winning multiple game awards worldwide.
Headquartered in Korea, PUBG Corporation has multiple operational offices globally across North America, Europe, Japan, and China. With the goal of developing PUBG as a global franchise, the company is currently undertaking a number of projects in esports, product licensing, and more. For more information around PUBG, please visit www.pubg.com.