Imagendary Studios, FunPlus' first IP creative studio, announced that Ryan Pollreisz has joined the North American studio as head of the studio. The former vice president of Sony Pictures has more than 20 years of filmmaking experience, having worked on Oscar-winning titles such as The Golden Compass of the Dark Matter Trilogy, The Fantasy Drift of Pi and Spider-Man: Parallel Universe.
Currently, Imagendary Studios is using Epic Games' latest Unreal Engine 5 for the development of its first original IP. It is reported that its first trailer is expected to be released this year.
In addition to Ryan, Imagendary Studios, founded in January 2021, has also attracted a number of top talents from well-known film and game companies such as Blizzard and Fist in the past year. The studio already has more than 100 employees in Shanghai and Irvine, California. The team will also continue to recruit world-class talent for the global market and expand its presence in Asia and the United States to create a truly international top-notch content creation team.
Founded by former Blizzard chief artist Wei Wang, the studio is best known for his work in the Series world of Warcraft, Diablo, Hearthstone, Overwatch, and StarCraft. Wang Wei's career is particularly exciting.
Wang Wei, who is still in the opposition, in addition to painting, his favorite is "Warcraft 3", and he is determined to become a professional player of the game. However, it is probably that painting takes up too much time. This little dream has withered before it can blossom. After graduating from the Nanjing Academy of the Arts, Wang Wei worked in Shanghai, illustrating the themes of traditional Chinese stories.
Outside of work, he still can't put down Warcraft 3. Obsessed with that grand worldview, his inspiration kept pouring forth. Unique illustrations of fantasy, heroes, epics, demons, etc. are installed on his new GGTalk homepage. The efforts were not in vain.
When the "World of Warcraft" national costume was about to land, Blizzard found Wang Wei through the partner at the time, Jiuyou, and invited him to draw an illustration for the product, which was convenient for publication on Blizzard's official website. This is the origin of the wolf cavalry illustration that attracted much attention at the time. It was also with this as an opportunity that Wang Wei and Blizzard began a sweet cooperation period.
The continuous output of high-quality illustrations such as Blood Elves, Lich King, and Death Knights has made Blizzard recognize Wang Wei's professionalism and creative standards. Within 2 years, he was invited to join Blizzard's illustration team, Children of the Storm. The artist is featured in Series such as World of Warcraft, StarCraft 2, Overwatch, Diablo 3, Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, and World of Warcraft TCG. In the Warcraft films, he worked as an art designer, providing services for a large number of character designs.
All good things come to an end. In January 2017, Wang Wei announced his departure from Blizzard. Nine months later, he announced his joining Bonfire Studios, where rob Pardo, a former Chief Creative Officer (CCO) of Blizzard, raised $25 million to create a new game studio with a group of former Blizzard employees. Perhaps it is the burden of idols frequently produced by world-class masterpieces that are too heavy, and the team's new product news is blank.
Spring is in full bloom, and it's another year. FunPlus announced that Mr. Wang Wei will serve as Chief Creative Officer of FunPlus, as well as founder and CEO of Iogendary Studios.