The company was founded in January this year by Alex Evans, Mark Healey, Dave Smith and Kareem Ettouney. All four have impressive track records in the games industry with titles, such as Dungeon Keeper, Theme Park, Black & White, Live for Speed and Fable. The team have most recently completed the cult hit Rag Doll Kung Fu, which was the first third party title to be available through Steam, and went on to be nominated for two Develop awards.

In announcing the deal Mark Healey, Creative Director at Media Molecule said, “Working together on Rag Doll convinced us that a focussed and efficient team had the ability to deliver exciting and innovative content. The ambition for Media Molecule is to take that a step further and prove that a small (20 plus) and passionate team can deliver a world class, triple A, next generation product. Sometimes the very unwieldiness of a massive team renders it much less efficient.”

The team’s ethos clearly impressed Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE), and to this end have contracted Media Molecule to create an original game for PS3.

Alex Evans, Technical Director explained, “SCEE have proven to be the perfect partner for us. They immediately understood both our ambition for the game as well as our development style.“ Alex added “I think it is fantastic that a massive company like Sony has the vision to see that a smaller outfit can create a world class game. Even after 6 months of working together, we're beginning to create something very special for PS3.”

Michael Denny, Vice President, Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios (Europe) responded “We were immediately struck by Media Molecule's ambitions for what a next-gen title could be. Innovation is the key to our shared vision and everyone here at SCEE is highly impressed by Media Molecule's ability to deliver on that vision. We're excited to have extended our partnership on an exclusive basis and look forward to presenting the game publicly in due course.”