Pro Foosball dev Quirkat opens London studio

Quirkat, the Jordanian developer and creator of Pro Foosball, is to open a London office to spearhead its expansion into Europe.

Quirkat was formed in 2004 by Mahmoud Khasawneh and Candide Kirk (pictured), and notably for a development studio, 80 per cent of its workforce are women.

The Jordanian developer has developed a close relationship with Sony, and is currently the only developer with a publishing agreement in the region. It’s a licenced PS3, PS Vita and Nintendo developer.

Its take on recreating table football, Pro Foosball, designed to be played using Move controllers, launched on PSN last month. And it has also created a launch title for PlayStation Mobile in the form of Word Blocked.

“We’re incredibly proud of our regional heritage, but this is an exciting period of our evolution as we enter the global market on PSN with Pro Foosball,” said Quirkat founder and CEO Mahmoud Khasawneh.

“Our new studio in London will enable us to grow our international work as well as provide us with a base to promote our region to the global publishing and development community. The Middle East remains a vast, largely untapped market that is passionate about games.”

Quirkat’s new London office, based in the Tech City area near Old Street, will complement existing bureaus in Amman and Dubai.

Mahmoud Khasawneh was previously CIO of Jordan and led the Jordanian Government’s eGovernment programme for four years.

Khasawneh then went on to co-found Quirkat with Kirk. The studio’s early progress was led by its catalogue of regionally relevant original IP, the most successful being Arabian Lords.

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe’s senior business development manager Shahid Ahmad added: “We’ve been impressed for some time with the evolution of the Quirkat studio. Their culturally relevant back catalogue illustrates how much they understand their region, yet their core skills, as evidenced by Pro Foosball, make them a truly international studio. A great team with smart ideas.”