Popcap Launches 'Experimental' Game Studio

Yes, Popcap put's out some great games and we all love a good hearty dose of Peggle and Zuma Blitz to pass the time, but even with those successes I wouldn't necessarily call them Centres of Ingenuity. That's why it's great news to hear that Popcap is starting a new mini-studio called 4th & Battery whose main focus will be to release those ideas that were shot down for the more tame examples above.

Popcap's Ed Allard gives the details: "Making games at PopCap is crazy and chaotic. We're constantly prototyping wacky ideas in search of the next great thing, but very few of those ideas make it through our intense internal filters to become full-blown PopCap titles. That means there are lots of fledgling games hiding within our walls that never see the light of day," he added. "Enter 4th & Battery. 4th & Battery is a new label we're using to bring some of our more experimental ideas to customers. It's a way to lift some of our internal filters and let us stretch our creative legs a little."

Personally I'm not so sure that making an entire new studio should be necessary for those 'wacky' ideas, unless Popcop Corporate is truly frightened of what some of these ideas might do to the brand overall. Speaking of the new games themselves, Allard stated: "They may be a little flawed, or a little too small, or too indie, or too strange to merit the PopCap seal of approval, but there's a spark inside each one of these that just might connect with people."

Honestly, these are the very games that Popcap is in a wonderful position to produce. We know they can do the straight Facebook social games thing, so they should feel free at this point to stretch out their arms and take a leap off of that creative cliff every once in a while. I'm happy that they are going to finally do that, but doing it under a different name is just hiding the truth. Popcap...leave you name on those weird games and let your Freak Flag Fly.

Take a look at a teaser for one of the new games below. No gameplay is shown but it certainly replaces the feeling of that traditional Popcap experience with something decidedly more Adult Swim.