Montenegro, June 14, 2022 - Arctic7, a newly established games development company founded by Igor Efremov, Mark Rizzo and Alan Van Slyke, has today announced that it has opened a new development studio in Montenegro. The studio will focus on game development, as well as a selection of other exciting projects.
The launch follows a recent successful seed round of $2million led by Bay Area-based venture capital firm Grishin Robotics, and will serve as a basis for further global expansion - allowing Arctic7 to deliver ongoing technical and creative solutions within the games industry.
Currently the studio houses 35 employees, but is actively recruiting to grow its team by up to 40 new hires this year, establishing itself as a leading games developer in the region. With this new addition to its global network, Arctic7 will strengthen its ability to focus on quality, technical excellence and creative output on upcoming projects.
The team is led by Studio Head Kedhrin Gonzalez, formerly Production Director of Sperasoft and co-founder at Illfonic Studios, who said: “Over my career I have worked with many teams on many different types of products. I have never felt so excited about the passion and drive of a studio than I do about the one we are building here. We are curating an environment that fosters creativity and growth, and this is coupled with Montenegro’s excellent IT infrastructure; there aren't many better places to inspire imagination and creativity. Together, I am confident that we’ll be turning out some amazing games.”
Arctic7 is currently hiring for roles in QA, production, engineering, art and design - working towards full development on a number of unannounced projects, which promise to put Arctic7 at the forefront of the next generation of game development.
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Notes to Editors
More about Arctic7:
Arctic7 is a next generation independent games company, founded in 2021 by Igor Efremov, Mark Rizzo and Alan Van Slyke. The company is headquartered in Austin Texas and has development teams around the world. Arctic7’s vision is to create an environment where creativity is nurtured and every partnership remains personal. Through their combined decades of experience working in games, Efremov, Rizzo and Van Slyke know that every project is only as good as the people behind it. The company is committed to hiring and inspiring the best talent and is proud of the ever-growing team it has assembled since its creation. Arctic7 is currently working on an unannounced project for an international publisher, and has a number of partner projects planned for 2022 and beyond.
More about Igor Efremov, Mark Rizzo and Alan Van Slyke:
Igor Efremov began his games career at Electronic Arts before co-founding Sperasoft with Mark Rizzo; a games development studio that was acquired by Keyword Studios in 2017. The acquisition resulted in Efremov becoming Keyword Studios’ Chief Commercial Officer, responsible for sales and services across the company.
Mark Rizzo has also held a number of senior leadership technical and operations roles at companies including Sony, Electronic Arts and most recently Keyword Studios, where he held the role of Global Operations Director.
Alan Van Slyke has over two decades of game development experience, working in senior production roles at Epic Games, Electronic Arts and Sony Computer Entertainment, and most recently served as Chief Operating Officer at Microsoft Studio, Undead Labs