Valve Acquires Star Filled Studios, Opening San Francisco Studio
Valve has bought out the two-manned Star Filled Studios. Jeff Gates and Tod Semple, the two men behind Star Filled Studios have worked on games such as Diablo 3, Spore, Plants Vs Zombies, and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Semple has posted on his Linkedin that: "My recent startup was acquired by Valve and we are opening a new office on the San Francisco peninsula."
Valve has previously acquired a studio before, California-based Turtle Rock Studios which was in charge of Left 4 Dead. However, Turtle Rock Studios was eventually closed down, and it's employees absorbed into Valve's' main headquarters in Bellevue. Turtle Rock Studios re-opened again independently in 2010.
It's not yet revealed what projects the recently acquired branch will take on, but the legendary Gabe Newell has confirmed that they are indeed keeping Gates and Semple in San Francisco by saying: “The guys who did PvZ, down in the Bay Area, we’re helping them set up a Valve subsidiary there.”