EA Australia has announced that LucasArts' former director of development, Steve Dauterman, has been appointed as general manager of Studio Asia Pacific, a new development based studio in Australia.

　　Dauterman was employed at Lucas for over more than ten years. He started as a financial analyst for Lucasfilm before jumping to LucasArts in 92. After leaping to the dark side of gaming, he helped build titles like X-Wing, Rebel Assault, Dark Forces/Jedi Knight, Shadows of the Empire, Rogue Squadron, Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, Full Throttle, and Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace.

　　"The decision to leave LucasArts was definitely a difficult one for me personally, but the challenge to build a new studio and live in Australia is a unique opportunity I could not pass up. I am thrilled to join the team at EA Asia Pacific. My goal is to bring world-class talent to the Studio and build products that are both creative and innovative in the worldwide marketplace," said Dauterman.

　　As part of his appointment, Dauterman will relocate to Australia's Gold Coast in September where he'll be developing games for the Australian, Asian, and world markets.

　　Studio Asia Pacific will start relatively small, with only 15 employees, but it is expected to grow significantly by developing titles based on international sports such as Cricket and Rugby, as well as localizing titles for the Asian market.

　　"We have had great success with non-American sports games like Rugby Union, Cricket, and Australian Rules Football," says president and COO of Electronic Arts John Riccitiello, "and we're incredibly excited to bring this process in house and really create some great games. In addition to this, we will be working with local and international developers such as Auran to assist in the creation and distribution of their games."

　　EA has also hired ex-Beam Software's James Halprin as executive producer of sports titles and ex-Virgin Interactive and Westwood's Bruce Dennehy as CFO to work alongside EA's executive producer of entertainment, Michael de Plater.

　　Studio Asia Pacific has already secured relationships with development houses such as Auran in Brisbane, Australia; Creative Assembly in Horsham, UK; Dreamtime in Sydney, Australia; Krisalis in Rotherham, UK; and Stromlo in Melbourne, Australia.