Center Japanese leisure powerhouse MBC Studios has expanded into the online game business with the launch of MBC Recreation Studio.
The nascent subsidiary has spent the previous three years engaged on 1001 Threads of Mizan, an upcoming action-adventure title set inside the world of One Thousand and One Nights.
MBC Studios mum or dad firm MBC Group has supplied “vital” monetary backing for the sport studio, which is led by CEO Daniel Engelhardt and COO Trevor Williams, who’ve pulled collectively a fully-remote world growth staff that includes expertise from BioWare, Hello-Rez Studios, Ubisoft Montreal, and Bungie.
“[Remote working] has been tremendously beneficial by way of having the ability to method nice folks and say ‘you possibly can keep the place you might be,'” stated Engelhardt in a dialog with Recreation Developer at Gamescom 2026. “But additionally by way of constructing a staff to attempt to inform this story, our footprint consists of people within the Center East with deep connections with the fabric.”
These workers have already witnessed adjustments in company possession since work started on 1001 Threads of Mizan in 2023. In 2025, the government-owned Saudi Public Funding Fund (PIF) acquired a 54 percent stake in MBC Group, buying the shares from Istedamah Holding Firm, an funding automobile operated by the Ministry of Finance. The PIF’s contemporaneous monetary strikes have drawn scrutiny from industry professionals and politicians alike.
Engelhardt instructed Recreation Developer that MBC Recreation Studio will function independently and is laser-focused on constructing a profitable online game to raise the native business.
“We’re constructing a enterprise from floor zero,” Engelhardt stated when discussing the subject. “All the things that is occurring within the area from a online game viewpoint is attention-grabbing. It is an especially interesting market—it is fast-growing and there are numerous gamers.”
“The best way we take into consideration what we’re doing is ‘we’re constructing a enterprise for a media firm, and I feel a extremely essential a part of our story is after we get up each day, [we ask ourselves] ‘how can we construct a terrific recreation that may hopefully develop into a franchise?’ If we hit our marks, I feel we can have had an impression on the area and the flexibility to make video games there.”
Engelhardt additionally confirmed MBC had dominated out leveraging generative AI expertise. “It isn’t that we’re categorically towards [generative] AI—it is simply that as a studio we’ve a extremely sturdy perception that AI is simply as sturdy because the particular person utilizing it.” he added. “On the finish of the day, our philosophy is absolutely backing our artistic groups to essentially empower our builders. We’ll consider as they inform us what they do and do not wish to do, however proper now there’s a coverage towards utilizing generative AI.”
MBC has been engaged on 1001 Threads of Mizan since round 2023. The title is being demoed on the present flooring at Gamescom 2026, however there is not any launch window at present in sight. When requested how MBC is prioritizing sustainability so it could actually deliver the undertaking to market and probably delivery a full-blown franchise, Engelhardt stated the studio is being “aware” about the way it allocates assets so it could actually take a an enormous swing.
“I feel taking a artistic threat is extremely essential. And I can communicate to that very passionately from what we’re doing. We needed to the staff 110 p.c to go and do one thing that we really feel is exclusive and completely different. Gamers will inform us if we obtain that, however [that was] our mission from the start. I feel it is essential as an business that we proceed to try this.”
Recreation Developer is attending Gamescom as a media ambassador. Flights and lodging have been lined by occasion organizers.