Behind the upcoming sci-fi MMORPG Tabula Rasa, NCSoft has just announced the addition of a new member to its growing family of online game development studios. Last week, the Korea-based publisher revealed it would be dramatically ramping up production at its European studio in the UK with the addition of 100 new jobs.

The company officially unveiled Carbine Studios, a dev team comprised of 17 former Blizzard employees that includes lead and senior developers who worked on the insanely popular World of Warcraft MMORPG. Its vice president will be Kevin Beardslee, a former lead developer on World of Warcraft. City of Heroes executive producer and cofounder of Turbine Inc. Jeremy Gaffney will transition into a similar role at Carbine. And last but not least, Tim Cain--leader designer of the original Fallout and cofounder of Troika Games--will serve as programming director.

The Orange County-based studio is currently working on an as yet unannounced MMORPG project.

"This is a dev team made in heaven," said Robert Garriott, CEO for NCSoft´ s North American business. "This group is as experienced as they come in the area of computer role playing and multiplayer game design. Making successful games is second nature to them."