We received a press release today from Turbine, the creators of Lord of the Rings Online, announcing the opening of their new development studio in Redwood City, Calif.

In addition, Turbine has hired Dave Brevik as creative director, Jeff Lind as engineering director and Matt McKnight as studio director of its new California studio. Allakhazam readers may be most familiar with Brevik, who spent seven years as both president for Blizzard North and as a director of Blizzard Entertainment

According to the press release, "The new studio will be a vital part of Turbine’s corporate vision as it brings new titles to market, expands the platforms it supports and introduces new technologies to expand and grow the communities that are the foundation of online games."

This news comes a month before the release of the Mines of Moria expansion, which will be in stores Nov. 18. The full press release on the new studio announcement is below.

WESTWOOD, MA – October 13, 2008 -- Turbine, Inc., a premier creator and operator of massive, persistent online worlds, today announced the opening of a new studio located in Redwood City, CA.  The new studio will help drive Turbine’s rapid growth and further accelerate Turbine’s goal of becoming a global leader in online entertainment.  Turbine also announced the hiring of Dave Brevik as Creative Director, Jeff Lind as Engineering Director and Matt McKnight as Studio Director of its new California studio.  The new studio will be a vital part of Turbine’s corporate vision as it brings new titles to market, expands the platforms it supports and introduces new technologies to expand and grow the communities that are the foundation of online games.

“The opening of our West coast studio is a major milestone in Turbine’s long-term growth plans as  it allows us to complement the outstanding talent we have on the East coast with the pool of extraordinary  talent available on the West coast,” said Jim Crowley, president and CEO of Turbine, Inc.  “Turbine is fast becoming the place to be for those looking to create the new generation of cross platform MMOs.  We are delighted that Dave, Jeff and Matt have joined us in this effort and we look forward to further announcements as we continue to expand this team.”

Dave Brevik is Turbine’s newest Creative Director having most recently served as the Chief Visionary Officer at Flagship Studios.  Prior to co-founding Flagship Studios, he spent seven years as both president for Blizzard North and as a Director of Blizzard Entertainment. As a member of numerous internal and external project oversight teams, he brought a unique vision and understanding of design and technology to Blizzard’s games, especially the Diablo series.  Dave also played an important role in the initial and iterative structural design of Blizzard’s free online gaming service, Battle.net, which launched with the original Diablo.

Jeff Lind brings over ten years of experience working on online, console and handheld games to his new role as Director of Engineering at Turbine. Prior to joining Turbine, he led a team at Ping0 that built the online platform for Flagship Studios.  Jeff also worked at Electronic Arts, on a range of titles from The Sims to The Lord of the Rings, to the experimental online game Majestic.

Matt McKnight, Turbine’s new West coast Studio Director, has spent over a decade entrenched in various aspects of game development.  Prior to joining Turbine, Matt served as CEO and President of Sniper Studios where he helped forge strategic alliances with key players in the industry.  Matt also worked at Electronic Arts where he played key roles in the game development organization working on the Madden and Bond franchises.  

An online entertainment veteran, Turbine is recognized globally for its industry-leading technology platform, groundbreaking game graphics and its exceptional ability to create and operate multiple massive, persistent online worlds that power hundreds of thousands of interactive social gaming experiences.  Turbine currently operates three award-winning franchises around the globe and is one of the largest privately-held online gaming studios in North America.