Play Eternal becomes Philly’s first high-budget video game studio

Nearly 18 months after a group of local video game developers made it their mission to put Philly on the video game map, the city finally has its first “AAA” video game studio.
In a press release today, Play Eternal announced it will be basing its operations out of Philadelphia at a location yet to be determined. The new studio will be led by Louis Tranchitella, Brandon Van Slyke, Albert Vazquez, and Michael Worth, veterans of Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 and a handful of other titles according to the press release.
“AAA” refers to a high-budget game studio that will publish titles for wide release. Currently, independent shops dominate Philadelphia’s game-making community.
The studio is a big win for the local grassroots effort to make Philadelphia attractive to video game development companies. Top video game talent is routinely poached from Drexel and Penn, home of the nation’s only Ivy-league video game development program.
The studio says that it will likely be located within city limits.
If you remember, Worth was among the leaders of VGI Philly, the effort to create favorable tax laws to incentivize video game companies. Worth presented his idea at Ignite Philly 4.
We’ll have more from the company later this week.