Unpleasant Horse will be the first game from the newly formed 4th & Battery.
PopCap has creative interests beyond Plants vs. Zombies and BeJeweled, so they’ve opened a new studio called 4th & Battery that will focus on fast-to-market, smaller sized “experimental” games.
“4th & Battery is a purely experimental, creative label with none of the typical concerns like schedules, profitability, or even target audience,” said PopCap CEO Jason Kapalka. “It’s kind of the video game equivalent of B-sides or short films. Expect weirdness.”
PopCap believes that the new, less restrictive design space will be beneficial to their various creative individuals.
“4th & Battery gives us a way to quickly try really strange or marginal ideas, and to give our designers a safe area to hone their chops,” added Executive VP Ed Allard.
The new studio’s first game is scheduled for release later this month. It’s called Unpleasant Horse, and will appropriately cast players as “a strikingly unpleasant horse that sports wings” that can go after birds and other enemies. Unpleasant Horse will debut in the Apple App Store and is targeted at mature audiences.
The trailer for Unpleasant Horse is below. PopCap says that more 4th & Battery products will eventually be coming to iOS-based devices, Facebook, and the PC.
