As you might or might not have heard, I’ve departed Sulake in favor of a new exciting startup – Makielab. Leaving Sulake was not easy. I worked there for over 10 years (10 years!!!!), so the company and Habbo will be part of me for the rest of my life. Having said that, it started to feel like it was time to let go, so here I am. Habbo is in good hands and there’s cool stuff in the pipeline to come out, so I’m confident the Hotel will live on for more than 10 years to come.
Makielab is still partly in secret mode and building the first product, but the site has a video clip that tells quite a bit on what we’re about. I’m super excited about the company, and very happy about the other founders – Alice, Jo and Luke are all awesome, and we’re planning to do beautiful, exciting things.
Makielab announces final founder lineup; Sulka Haro joins from Sulake (Habbo Hotel)
28.06.2011
Makielab, a new digital toys & games company founded in Q1 2011, is announcing its lineup of founders as the last founder joins from Sulake, the makers of Habbo Hotel.
Makielab is building a system of social & mobile games that create customisable toys and collectibles from the same dataset. Founded by ALICE TAYLOR (previously commissioning editor at Channel 4 Education) after 3 years commissioning award-winning and innovative games and media for the UK broadcaster. Makielab will take elements from the founders’ passions and blend them into an exciting new system of play, 3D printed toys, and customisable content.
The three co-founders are:
LUKE PETRE (CTO), who built the tools backend for both Little Big Planet 1 & 2, joins Makielab from Bitminion, a Facebook games developer. Luke brings a deep understanding of user generated content, as well as extensive tools and technical experience from both LBP and his MMO development background (Lord of the Rings Online, Dungeons & Dragons Online).
JO ROACH (COO), cross-media director and talent scout, with award-winning playful and social media experiences under her belt for Somethin’ Else and Channel 4 (Routes, SuperMe, Linkem, Skins & Misfits).
SULKA HARO (CDO), Lead Design from Sulake, the maker of global virtual world phenomenon with over 200 million registered players. Sulka brings extensive knowledge of virtual goods, virtual economics and metrics, as well as design experience in creating products for massive online audiences (Habbo Hotel, Virtual Magic Kingdom).
Makielab’s first (as yet unannounced) product will be a dolls & action figures property, including games and customisation tools, and is due to ALPHA Q4 2011.
Twitter: @makielab
Congratz! Sounds like the perfect place for you :)
Wow! Congratulations!
Are you moving too,or is the new company distributed geographically?
We’re at the moment distributed. Assuming the centrality will be affected by the funding.
That’s great, congratulations — and wow, what an amazing group of founders!