Almost a full year on from the moment Disney shuttered the studio, Game Informer reports that Warner Bros. Interactive has stepped in to revive Avalanche Software. The first order of business? A Cars 3 video game.
News of Warner’s decision comes almost a year after Disney announced plans to exit the video game development scene altogether – barring mobile titles – resulting in not only the closure of Avalanche, but the cancellation of the toys-to-life Disney Infinity series. Close to 300 employees were laid off at Avalanche Software – not to be confused with Avalanche Studios, the dev behind Just Cause and the Max Payne franchise – but this represents a new lease of life for the team.
In light of the announcement, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment President David Haddad released the following statement:
“The Avalanche talent and technology are a great addition to our group of outstanding developers. We are excited for this Cars 3 game as well as all of the future games the team will create under John’s leadership.”
That’s John Blackburn, former CEO at Avalanche Software who will take point on the studio’s Cars 3 video game. Little is known about the embryonic licensed title, but it’s important to remember that this isn’t Avalanche’s first rodeo with the series, having worked on Cars 2 back in 2011.
A family-friendly racing title is surely on the cards, then, and Warner Bros. and now Avalanche will no doubt hope to have Cars 3 prepped and ready for release around the same time as Brian Fee’s cinematic threequel, which is due to screech into theaters on June 16th.
Published: Jan 25, 2017 12:22 pm