2K Games has announced the opening of a new studio based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Named Small Axe Studios, the team will develop AAA games and includes many veterans of the gaming industry. Its key leadership roles include Aaron McHardy as vice president and executive producer, Gary Paterson as head of design, Tom Pan as head of operations, and Mike Thompson as head of engineering.
McHardy has worked in the games industry for 21 years, and before joining 2K, had worked as an executive producer at Electronic Arts Vancouver on projects like Madden, College Football, and FIFA – now known as EA Sports FC. Paterson has a similar track record. He’s a 22-year veteran who’s worked on a wide range of sports titles including FIFA Manager, FIFA Street, and NBA Live during his time at EA. He has also worked on the Need for Speed franchise as studio design director at Criterion Games.
Pan, having spent 20 years in the industry, has worked on games like UEFA Champions League, SSX, Tennis, NHL, UFC, and FIFA during his time at EA. Thompson has worked as technical director on NHL and UFC, running advanced technology teams during his EA tenure.
Small Axe Studios has also hired Brent Breedveld as animation director, Karl Gryc as art director, and John Cruz as technical art director. The team as a whole is handled by head of HR Trisha MacWan, who has previously held HR leadership roles at Phoenix Labs and Glu Mobile.
Breedveld has one of the most varied catalogues in terms of games he has worked on. During his 14-year tenure at Relic Entertainment as principal animator and animation director, he had a hand in shipping critically acclaimed strategy games like Age of Empires 4 and Company of Heroes. He has also worked on the original Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine. Going further back, Breedveld has a history in the film industry, having worked at Prime Focus World with film credits that include Watchmen and Superman Returns.
Gryc – a 22-year veteran – has worked on several classic critically-acclaimed games like Company of Heroes, Dawn of War, Turok, Academy of Champions, Pure Futbol, Deserts of Kharak, and Sleeping Dogs. His most recent contributions can be seen in Homeworld 3 and Crossfire Legion – projects on which he served as art director.
Currently, Small Axe Studios is looking to grow its teams and has posted job listings on its website for a variety of roles, ranging from lighting artist and senior gameplay online engineer to producer and even a gameplay systems software engineer. While the studio’s first project hasn’t yet been announced, Small Axe Studios has said that it is “built on a fiercely protected, ego-free culture” that prioritizes “coaching over criticism.”
As the wealth of experience across the studio’s teams would indicate, Small Axe Studios is building “2K’s next blockbuster sports franchise”. Which sport will be tackled remains to be seen, though 2K might be looking to develop games across hockey, soccer, and American football to capitalize on the success of the NBA 2K series.
