Rich Vogel (left) will take the reins at Battlecry Studios

Some good news for the Austin gaming industry. After layoffs from Vigil, BioWare, and a few small studio closures a new company opens its doors. Battlecry Studios will be lead by Rich Vogel who left BioWare this summer after completing Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Battlecry is part of the Bethesda Softworks family of studios which includes Arkane Studios, another Austin gaming institution. Arkane will be shipping their much anticipated console title Dishonored this coming Tuesday (Oct. 9).

Vogel’s departure from BioWare’s Austin studio came without explanation, but his new gig seems like a pretty obvious culprit.

Battlecry is looking for everything from an art director to a “monetization designer.” We assume that latter job involves drawing the pictures that will go on virtual currency (aren’t games amazing?). Check out the job opportunities on the ZeniMax Media site.

No titles have yet been announced, but what can you really do without a monetization designer?

This article appears in September 28 • 2012.

A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.

SUPPORT US

James graduated from Columbia University in 2000 and moved to Austin a year later. Ever since, he has followed the arts and video game scene in ATX, editing and writing stories for the Chronicle along the way. Over his more than 20 years with the paper he has climbed the "corporate" ladder from lowly intern to managing editor.