Insomniac CEO and founder Ted Price says the company plans to search for office space over the coming months, and expects to open the studio by January of next year. The studio will be head up by Insomniac art director Chad Dezern, while gameplay lead Shaun McCabe will act as production director.

The company plans to hire 25 to 30 new employees for the new studio, which marks Insomniac's first expansion in the 14 years. Though the company exclusively develops titles for the PlayStation 3, Insomniac has remained independent since its founding.

"This is a fantastic opportunity for us to start a new group with the same philosophy that we've built up over the last 14 years at Insomniac, which is to have a team focused on top craftsmanship and attention to detail," said Price. "It gives us a great opportunity to bring on folks who may not have the ability to make it to the West Coast or who prefer the East Coast to the West Coast."

The CEO did not offer details as to when he expects the first game from Insomniac North Carolina, or what the new studio might be working on. It's possible that North Carolina may be poised to work on downloadable titles for the PlayStation Network, which Insomniac had previously expressed interest in producing.

"One of the reasons we're close-lipped is because we don't want to mislead anybody," noted Price. "We don't try to make big promises or big statements without being able to back them up and we want to be absolutely sure our team is up, operational and going before we announce what project we're working on."