A group of Activision Blizzard veterans has started a new developer-publisher, which is called New Tales. Based out of Paris, New Tales was created with the intention of creating original franchises through its internal studios, but also offering publishing services that reach a “global scope” for other developers.
The newly created outfit is currently being led by president and CEO, Cedric Marechal, who previously served as international senior vice president for Activision Blizzard. Benoit Dufour, another Activision Blizzard veteran who also served as international SVP, has been named COO of New Tales, with Delphine Le Corre, who was previously senior director EMEA at Blizzard, joins New Tales as chief growth officer. Finally, Emmanuel Obert, who had most recently worked as publishing director EMEA at Blizzard, has been brought on as chief content officer.
All four of the New Tale leads were present at Blizzard in 2004, acting as part of the initial team that created Blizzard EMEA, prior to the release of World of Warcraft. In a press statement, New Tales will place player communities as they begin developing their initial titles. Company President Cedric Marchal also stated:
New Tales is a one-stop-shop publishing solution where we’re going to work with developers, as one united team, dedicated to maximizing success. We are also building our internal production capabilities to develop our own games and IPs. We are looking forward to joining forces with people who share our values and passion.
While much of the past week has been spent talking about Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard for nearly $70 Billion, it is easy to forget that the industry is always changing in meaningful ways. Another studio to look out for is the Tencent-owned Team Kaiju, led by former Halo and Battlefield dev Scott Warner, which is working on a AAA first-person shooter title.
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