Brink developers launch online services system

Senior staff from Brink developer Splash Damage have set up a new company to sell their online expertise.

The start-up, called Fireteam, plans to launch an “online services suite” which will offer other developers a way to easily integrate online features into their games, such as matchmaking, transmedia connectivity across multiple devices, friend features, player stats and in-game stores.

The platform will support Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Windows, Mac, iOS and Android, and will launch in the “near future”.

Fireteam’s CEO is former Splash Damage studio director Steve Gaffney, Brink technical director Arnout Van Meer is chief technology officer and Splash Damage IT manager Ben Hopkinson is director of operations.

“As with many developers, at Splash Damage we often outsourced this component to a multitude of varying specialist providers, most of which have since been acquired,” commented Van Meer.

“Now, with significant planning and research, we’ve launched this as a separate venture to Splash Damage. This specifically allows us to focus on improving the quality of online services.

“Because we’re going to help improve how smoothly games are launched and operate, we’re pleased to be offering our services to Splash Damage as one of our first customers.”

Source: Eurogamer