Back in March, Sony decided to close down Evolution Studios, creators of Driveclub for the Playstation 4.
While a small part of the studio’s workforce found a new place in other Sony-owned enterprises, the vast majority of team members were laid off. Thankfully, the skilled staff members have found a new home as Codemasters have been announce to take in the studio’s former staff.
Codies CEO Frank Sagnier has said of the union, ???The success of F1??? 2015 and DiRT Rally over the last 12 months has re-positioned the company for growth.?? The addition of the Evolution team to our studio group will allow us to scale our business and strengthen our leadership as the world???s premier racing game developer.?? I???m thrilled to have Mick Hocking join Codemasters as VP of Product Development. His experience in building AAA IP and leading great teams made him a natural choice to head the development of all of our products. I am equally thrilled to welcome his talented team to the Codemasters family and I look forward to the great games and brand new IP we will develop together.???
Mick Hocking added, ???I???m delighted to be joining Codemasters at such an exciting time in the company???s growth. We have a shared passion for racing, a desire to innovate and a determination to create the best racing games and build the biggest racing community in the market. I???m very much looking forward to working with so many of the world???s greatest racing developers, on new IP as well as exciting franchises including DiRT, GRID, Micro Machines??? and the FORMULA ONE??? games.???
According to Codemasters, the new hires turn the studio into the industry’s largest racing games developer in terms of workforce size.
Evolution Studios had a rich history in virtual racing, having created several official World Rally Championship titles, the Motorstorm series as well as most recently, Driveclub for the Playstation 4.
Since Codemasters is only hiring the former studio staff, none of the assets or trademarks of these titles will leave Sony’s hands.
