Ex-members of Metroid Prime developer Retro Studios have formed Armature Studio, and signed an exclusive "long-term" publishing partnership with Electronic Arts, the development house announced Monday.

The Austin, Tex.-based studio is led by Mark Pacini, Todd Keller and Jack Mathews, who served as game director, art director and principal technology engineer, respectively, on the acclaimed Metroid Prime series.

Armature described its strategy in a press statement: "The goal of Armature is to create compelling new intellectual properties with a unique development framework that leverages a small core creative team and partners them with strategic external developers.

"The innovative new model is designed to enhance the creative flexibility of a small independent studio while offering modular scale through external partnerships."

Pacini said that with Armature, "no platform is off limits," a benefit not available at Nintendo-owned Retro Studios.

No word yet on what exactly Armature is working on.