Game studio shines

VIDEO game developer Tantalus has opened up a new studio in Brisbane where a team of 12 is developing a Nintendo DS game that CEO Tom Crago expects will sell half a million copies worldwide.

Crago was unwilling to reveal the game’s name but he says it will be an interesting one for the Melbourne-based company that has previously produced such games as Spyro, Sponge Bob Square Pants, Top Gear Rally and Pony Friends.

He hopes the Melbourne-based company’s studio in the QUT Creative Enterprise Australia (CEA) Accelerator Hub will grow to a similar size as Melbourne operations.

"We’ve had our studio in Melbourne since 1994 and it’s grown to a size that we’re happy with so rather than expanding there we’ve decided to try and access the talent pool of Brisbane," he says.

"We’d like to grow our Brisbane operations to around 25 staff by the end of the year.

"Depending how the market goes, we would envisage that we would have around 70 to 80 employees here in about three to four years – so a similar size to the Melbourne operation.

"Brisbane has a high quantity and quality of graduates and so far it’s been very smooth sailing for us – so far so good."

The next phase of growth will come through the release of the company’s first Wii title and the addition of Playstation 3 and digital distribution projects.