Having long been a leading champion of virtual reality with EVE Valkyrie and Sparc, CCP Games decided that the sector wasn’t mature enough to be a worthwhile investment to them. In stepping back from VR, this also saw them shut CCP Newcastle.
Thankfully, that Newcastle team have been rescued by Sumo Digital, joining the company’s other studios in Sheffield, Nottingham, and Pune, India. The studio will remain in Newcastle and 34 staff are making the shift. Owen O’Brien will also remain, jumping from Executive Producer to Studio Director.
Sumo Digital’s MD Paul Porter said, “As we continue to expand this was a great opportunity to bring an experienced, talented and tight-knit team on board.”
Sumo Digital are a storied independent developer, having worked on everything from LittleBigPlanet to Sonic All Stars Racing, and even branched out into smaller self-published development with one of last year’s most charming platformers, Snake Pass. They’re currently completing the arduous development of Crackdown 3 for the first half of this year, and they took over development of Dead Island 2 back in 2016.
It’s entirely plausible that the Newcastle team will be getting involved with some rather familiar territory, though. Project Nova is a Sumo developed game set within CCP’s EVE universe, as the company’s second attempt at creating a shooter to go alongside its space-based MMO.
Source: GamesIndustry.biz
TSBonyman
Quite the burden of expectations with both Crackdown 3 and Dead Island 2 on their shoulders but it’s a refreshing change to hear of a studio being given a new lease of life.