Former IO Interactive, Riot, and Plarium devs start Chamo Games to make "non-lethal" FPS
Chamo Games is a new game studio formed by industry veterans. The team, comprised of former IO Interactive, Plarium, Riot Games, and Ubisoft devs, has already secured funding for its debut project.
Chamo Games was founded by CEO Zoher Toutanji and creative director Roberto Schiavulli.
Toutanji previously served as CCO at IO Interactive, as well as head of UA at Riot Games, senior business lead at Square Enix, and game designer at Ubisoft. His portfolio includes games like Hitman III, The Division, and Final Fantasy XIV.
Schiavulli started his career in the late 2000s as localization QA tester at Vivendi and Activision. He then worked at Riot Games for almost eight years, also briefly serving as Behaviour Interactive’s product manager and Plarium’s creative director.
Here are other key people at Camo Games:
- Technical director David Lind — worked at Massive Entertainment for 13 years, also served as technical director at IO Interactive;
- Art director Sylvia Dybiec — previously worked at Gameloft, Square Enix, Crytek, and more;
- Executive producer Stephanie Pecaoco — previously worked at Ubisoft, Massive, and IO Interactive;
- Lead game designer Bastian Wendzinski — previously worked at Ubisoft Singapore and Massive.
The studio currently employs 25 people. Other team members include senior environment artist Tjaart Kruger (formerly Frontier Developments, CD Projekt, and Jagex), and operations project lead Marina Tognoli (worked at Riot Games for more than nine years).
According to GamesBeat, Chamo Games raised money from Lakestar, Sisu Game Ventures, and Griffin Gaming Partners. However, financial details of the investment remain undisclosed.
Investors praised the team’s expertise, with Lakestar venture partner Mika Salm saying that “they are bringing a much-needed fresh perspective to the European games industry.”
Right now, Chamo Games is working on an unannounced “non-lethal” FPS for PC and consoles codenamed Project Mercury. There are not much details about it, but the studio says on its official website that it is “all about crafting games that are not just entertaining but fundamentally fun” and that gameplay is the “foundation that everything else is built upon.”
