Electric Manta is a new game studio began by PopCap alumni

Manta rays are some of the most astounding creatures on our planet and if an electric one existed, it would be uncommon and awe inspiring. That’s why a group of former PopCap game makers known as their firm Electric Manta.

Started by founder and CEO Mark Cochrane, the new totally free-to-play mobile game studio is based in London and it hopes to bring games to billions of players.

Cochrane’s group consists of former PopCap personnel Elizabeth Sampat, Alexis De Girolami, and Liam Robinson. They also let some non-PopCap persons into the fold. Stewart Perry, former head of tools and tech at British publisher Kwalee, and Gaurav Mehta, former executive producer at Zynga’s Casino Match Studio, have also joined.

“I was lucky enough to get an opportunity to set up Electric Manta. I was lucky enough to snag Elizabeth and some other PopCap alumni to join, join the team,” he mentioned. “We wanted to come out of stealth mode and announced the studio.”

The group is spread out from London to India, but it has a manageable quantity of time zones, Cochrane mentioned.

It sounds like a promising group of Mantas. The Electric Manta foundation group have worked on games that collectively have been downloaded more than 3 billion occasions. This consists of titles such as Plants vs Zombies 2, Subway Surfers, Hungry Shark World, Bejeweled Stars, Draw It!, and Jetpack Jump.

The firm is working on a range of mobile games, from hypercasual games to narrative-driven stories to player-versus-player games.

“We’ll announced that in the coming weeks with some interesting partnerships,” Cochrane mentioned. “A lot of people have been exposed to hypercasual over three to five years and they are probably wanting something more as they evolve as players toward the casual spectrum.”

Inspired by Supercell, the firm will have little teams of maybe 4 persons every working on games with a mission to be accessible.

Cochrane, also a former PopCap developer, mentioned Seattle-based PopCap, which was acquired Electronic Arts for $750 million, had an inspirational culture that resulted in the creation of some definitely enduring franchises like Bejeweled, PvZ, Zuma, and Peggle. Electric Manta desires to do the very same, he mentioned.

The firm has been in “stealth mode” for the last couple of quarters and will be announcing its 1st games and partnerships in the coming weeks. It has secretly raised income and Cochrane wouldn’t spill the beans. The group has about 10 persons.

“Electric Manta is a name we made up to describe the company, which is full of rare and amazing people wanting to do some awesome things,” mentioned Cochrane. “It also answers the long lost question of whether Electric Mantas truly do exist.”

A seasoned group

Cochrane previously worked at the Finnish game studio Lightneer. He decided to relocate and began the studio in September 2020. He recruited a group, an investor, and got to work on the company’s 1st game. Sampat, who has made a lot of games, was excited adequate about the chance that she moved from Seattle to London.

“I was really excited because it felt like we already had a shorthand when it came to talking about quality and humor and whimsy,” Sampat mentioned in an interview with GamesBeat. “The solo narrative expertise is genuinely close to my heart, and I got began as a narrative designer 10 years ago. I believe there are some genuinely exceptional narrative experiences on mobile, and I believe it is time to push that additional.

She mentioned she is 39 and she is excited to be in a position to make games for her personal demographic.

“I think the number the overarching design philosophy that we have is really making sure that the core gameplay is as as fun as humanly possible,” mentioned Sampat.

Originally appeared on: TheSpuzz