“Getting someone of Dan’s caliber is obviously a huge deal for us,” said Didier Malenfant, President and co-founder, “having spent the last 4 years slowly putting together the best console development team we’ve ever had the chance to work with, and Dan being one of the industry’s most acclaimed designer and creative talent, this is further proof that we have now become a force to be reckoned with.”
Known for his early involvement in the Crash Bandicoot® series at Naughty Dog®, Dan was also the lead creative force behind the Jak&Daxter® franchise as well as, more recently, the Playstation® 3 exclusive title Uncharted™: Drake’s Fortune. With over 17 years of experience, Dan has worked with publishers and developers ranging from Electronic Arts, Accolade, Sega of America, Crystal Dynamics, Sony, Pandemic, among others. As a Senior Designer and Creative Director at Naughty Dog-Sony for ten years, he helped develop and design 7 platinum best selling game titles, totaling more than 35 million units sold.
“It was actually a very easy decision to make,” said Dan Arey, “because when I first got the chance to hear about this new property, I immediately knew I had to be a part of it and get a chance to join forces with the incredible talent over at Ready At Dawn Studios®. These guys have taken the time to mature their team, their technology and this new concept. Believe me, this is going to be something special.”
An early proponent of interactive and convergent media, Dan designed games using film content and stronger narrative techniques as early as 1992 and has been an industry leader in story enhanced gaming for more than a decade. Dan has been a contributor to Game Developer Magazine, Creativity Magazine. and a frequent lecturer at the Game Developers Conference, E3, DICE, SIGGRAPH, and the Writer’s Guild of America. He is also an adjunct Professor at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts.
Dan Arey will take the title of Creative Director for Ready At Dawn Studios® and is now hard at work, together with Ru Weerasuriya, co-founder and Vice-President of Creative Development, on the company’s first original IP, details of which will be announced at a later date.