Avalanche Studios, the Sweden-based developer behind the Just Cause series, is expanding its operations to North America. They announced today that they'll be opening a studio in New York.

“While most developers and publishers are focused on expanding (or contracting) their operations in over-crowded industry centers such as Los Angeles, San Francisco or Seattle, New York provides us with a diverse talent pool from which to create our next big console title,” said Avalanche founder Christofer Sundberg. “It doesn’t hurt that it also happens to be the greatest city on earth.”

David Grijns, a veteran of Activision and Atari, will be heading up the New York studio. This location will be focused on developing “large-scale, online-enabled original IP for next-generation consoles, handhelds and PC.” Their first project, overseen by ex-Mindspark Interactive creative director Roland Lesterlin, is expected in 2014.

The New York studio will hire 50 people within its first two years. Interviews will commence at the end of this month.