Launching on June 1st 2009, Zoë SF will be led by Co-Studio Heads Sarah Stocker and Mark Danks, who have been running successful game development teams in the US for over a decade.
Prior to joining Zoë, Sarah led Sony Computer Entertainment’s Studio 5 as Senior Producer, and was responsible for launching Sony’s successful SingStar franchise in the US. Sarah’s 16 years in game development and publishing also includes experience in the handheld market, running North American production for Glu Mobile as Executive Producer, and over a decade leading teams at independent developer Stormfront Studios.
Mark also joins Zoë from Sony Computer Entertainment, where he directed PlayStation’s developer and educational outreach as Senior Manager of Developer Relations. Mark has led game development teams from a technical and business perspective as Director of Technology for Electronic Arts and Studio Technical Director for Stormfront Studios, where he and Sarah shipped multiple cross-platform titles together.
“With the growth of both our Brighton and London studios, we’ve been looking for an opportunity to form a US studio that can build upon our successes in the genre and bring us even closer to our US consumers and West Coast publishing partners.” Says Ed Daly, Worldwide General Manager of Zoë Mode. “We’re excited to have Sarah and Mark join the Zoë team to lead that effort and provide us with access to the tremendous creative and technical talent in the San Francisco Bay area.”
“Zoë Mode has an unrivaled track record as the premiere independent developer for music and party games” says Co-Studio Head Sarah Stocker “Mark and I are excited to join the rest of the Zoë team in extending that experience into the next generation of social games on console and beyond.”
“With Zoë SF we’re able to combine the passion and excitement of start-up culture with the established infrastructure of an existing successful studio system,” says Co-Studio Head Mark Danks. “This lets us focus on building a great team and making great games. It’s a tribute to Zoë Mode’s success and the strength of the Kuju Entertainment studio network that even in this economy, we’re in the enviable position of expanding.”
Zoë Mode’s 5 year history of creating top-selling and award-winning games includes work in collaboration with Sony’s London Studio on dozens of titles in the multi-million selling SingStar and Eyetoy franchises, creating Sing it! And Sing It! High School Musical 3 for Disney Interactive, Crush for Sega, Dancing with the Stars for Activision and You’re in the Movies for Microsoft/Codemasters. Zoë Mode is part of the Kuju Entertainment network of studios, comprising of 7 studios worldwide including Headstrong Games, developer of House of the Dead: Overkill and DoubleSix, developer of the PSN exclusive Burn, Zombie, Burn.
Zoë SF is located in the heart of San Francisco’s SoMa region, near Pac Bell Park, within easy walking distance of both ferry and BART transportation.