Who we are

MASSIVE BEAR Studios is an up and coming development studio in Vancouver, British Columbia. The brain-child of two senior game developers with a wealth of experience in AAA console and PC game development at some of the largest studios in the world, MASSIVE BEAR has a singular goal: to create high quality, compelling gameplay experiences that raise the standard of visual experience while earning a reputation of delivering on time and on budget. We have a focused group of experienced developers ready to supply their considerable skills to publishers and development teams looking to expand their ability to deliver on projects...without the additional overhead.

Our engineering and design teams consist of key members from Turok, the million-unit selling Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 first person shooter built with Epic’s Unreal Engine 3. What you didn’t know is that Turok was the first Unreal 3 title to ship ‘day and date’ for both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and the second Unreal 3 title to ship on the PlayStation 3. We have a wealth of top flight experience in the first person shooter, action/adventure and sports genres across platforms from the original PlayStation through to today’s latest technologies.

Let MASSIVE BEAR put those skills to work for you.

How we do it

MASSIVE BEAR approaches all of their work with a few core philosophies:

  • To make the best games on the planet while having a great time doing so (but we’re not afraid of a little hard work to get us there).
  • To grow sensibly, making sure that we are well prepared and have proven ourselves capable of tackling each step along the way.
  • To acknowledge that everyone brings different strengths to the table, and allow company culture to benefit from all talents by giving each staff member a voice.
  • To maintain our commitments, both internally to staff and externally to corporate clients.

What we do

MASSIVE BEAR is a small, focused team of 14 developers. We use our expertise to create AAA console and PC titles aimed at the first person shooter and action/adventure genres. We are open to opportunities as a core development team, or projects that require co-development special expertise with the Unreal Engine, PlayStation 3 development, first-person shooter level design or online multiplayer modes. We will help your game gain an advantage on a difficult architecture and allow you to allocate your finite in-house resources in the best possible manner.

MASSIVE BEAR delivers:
  • Rendering, Gameplay and Content optimizations.
  • Intelligent partitioning and movement of processing to the PlayStation 3 SPUs.
  • Smart initial architecture design to allow for full hardware utilization.
  • Single player and multiplayer level concepts, design and building.
  • Intelligent level streaming methods that keep the action flowing.
  • Custom Unreal Engine 3 modifications for faster iteration.

We have been heavily involved in Unreal Engine 3 development for over three years. We know the code. We know the tricks. We know its strengths and limitations and will use that valuable knowledge to assist your team in leveraging your licensed middleware to the fullest.

MASSIVE BEAR has the talent, the skill, the professional approach and the drive to help your team succeed.

MASSIVE BEAR is currently working with Big Sandwich Games on ‘Sky Pirates of Neo Terra’ for the Nintendo Wii.

Management Team

Mike Perzel Co-President
Michael Perzel is a co-founder of MASSIVE BEAR Studios. Michael, an industry veteran, has been making games for eight years, and programming professionally for ten with A-list developers like Radical Entertainment and the Walt Disney Company. As Technical Director, he brings expertise creating games for a wide variety of platforms, multiple genres, and has worked with both original content and license properties. During his career, he has demonstrated considerable expertise in identifying and bringing together technologies and personnel from different sources and merging them to create intelligent solutions. Michael has a great deal of experience in developing flexible software solutions and toolkits to facilitate efficient cross-platform game development. He has worked on a wide variety of hit titles in multiple genres such as Simpsons Road Rage, the NBA Live series, the March Madness NCAA Basketball series, and the rebooted Turok franchise.
Tim Lewinson Co-President
Timothy Lewinson is a co-founder of MASSIVE BEAR Studios. He brings nine years of software development experience with interactive global entertainment leaders such as Electronic Arts, THQ, and the Walt Disney Company. Timothy’s background also includes four years of business software development experience with groups such as Infowave and NDC Health. As Creative Director, he guides the MASSIVE BEAR’s design process to ensure the delivery of top quality, innovative entertainment. He has a highly successful track record as an authority on top notch game design, specializing in delivering addictive, moment to moment gameplay. Timothy has shipped the rebooted Turok franchise on three platforms as Associate Director and Senior Designer, and has led the gameplay balance charge on three of Relic Entertainment’s hit real-time strategy titles : ‘Dawn of War’, ‘Dawn of War: Winter Assault’, and ‘Dawn of War: Dark Crusade’, as well as producing the Relic Online gameplay portal for the multiple-award winning ‘Company of Heroes’.