Abu Dhabi Media and Gazillion form joint MMOG studio

San Francisco (CA) – The Abu Dhabi Media Company (ADMC) and Gazillion Entertainment have announced the creation of a joint Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG) studio. The collaborative venture is expected to focus on the creation of Arabic content for the Middle East gaming market.

Internship and employment schemes – which are slated to begin in 2010 – will include the opportunity for training placements at overseas Gazillion offices.

“To initiate development of regional expertise in the games sector, Emirati students and graduates will be the first to score a chance to engage their creativity and skills, to generate games content which is meaningful to the Arab world,” ADMC explained in a statement. “Students from Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) in Abu Dhabi will benefit from employment and on-the-job internship programmes at the JV in Abu Dhabi, a direct result of the collaboration begun earlier this year between ADMC and HCT.”

Abu Dhabi Media joins a growing number of UAE companies that have formed joint ventures with western firms. For example, AMD and ATIC (Advanced Technology Investment Company) recently agreed to collaborate on Globalfoundries – which will eventually comprise two massive semiconductor manufacturing facilities.

However, the ATIC investors are likely to be “primarily involved” at the corporate governance level.

“All decisions on day-to-day operations and technology are made by the Globalfoundries management team,” Globalfoundries spokesperson Jon Carvill told TG Daily.