Former Zynga and EA COO John Schappert forms new studio, Shiver Entertainment

Former Zynga and Electronic Arts COO John Schappert has formed a a new game developer, backed with funding from Nexon, according to a report on VentureBeat.

Shiver Entertainment will be based in Miami, close to the offices of the company he founded almost two decades ago, EA Tiburon (formerly Tiburon Entertainment). His new company will focus on PC, tablet and mobile free-to-play games.

Korean publisher Nexon has recently invested in other startups by renowned game developers including Brian Reynold's SecretNewCo and Greg Richardson's Rumble Games.

After EA bought his studio in 1998, Schappert climbed through the ranks to serve as executive vice president, before moving to Microsoft in 2007, spending two years in charge of first-party development.He rejoined EA in 2009 as COO, before a short spell as second-in-command at Zynga.

"I've had the luxury of working for some great companies and great people and seeing the world from different viewpoints," he said in an interview with VentureBeat. "All of that led to what I see as the future, free-to-play. It's what people want. Tablets and mobile are on a great curve. They enable us to player anywhere and everywhere."