It’s been just over two weeks since Sony announced the closure of Evolution Studios (the developers behind the MotorStorm series and DriveClub), but today Codemasters have announced that they’ll be taking the entire team from Evolution into their fold creating a union that’s likely to impress fans of the racing genre.
Codemasters famously developed Colin McRae, Dirt, Grid and my personal favourite, Micro Machines
Codemasters made the announcement on their blog. They stated:
We have very exciting news today. We’re delighted to announce that on the 25th April, Codemasters will be expanding its portfolio of studios to include the highly-respected and very talented team from Evolution Studios.
Why are we so excited? Well, that should be pretty obvious! Over the last 30 years, Codemasters and Evolution Studios have created some of the most successful racing franchises in the industry, including GRID®, DiRT®, DRIVECLUB and MotorStorm. This expansion will not only see us gain a wealth of racing expertise and skill, but it’ll take Codemasters to the next level as the world’s largest racing-focused games company. With phenomenal racing DNA on both sides, we hope that gamers out there are excited to see what we do next – as are all of us here at Codies.
We’re also delighted that Mick Hocking – formerly of Evolution Studios – will be taking the position of VP Product Development at Codemasters; a role which will see him responsible for all of the company’s studios – including the addition of the now multi-platform Evolution team in Cheshire.
The closure of Evolution Studios came just 2 weeks after the announcement that Microsoft would be closing Lionhead Studios
This could be the beginning of a beautiful fusion. With both teams being responsible for some of the biggest and best racing games of the last 30 years, it’s very exciting to ponder what their collaborative efforts could put out. Even beyond that, given the recent trend of fairly big and well-known studios being shut down, it’s nice to see a positive outcome for the gang at Evolution. We look forward to discussing their next project as it’s announced.
