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Facilitating an accelerated expansion of its development talent
base, Codemasters today announced it has reached an agreement with
Activision Vivendi to take over
 Swordfish Studios, the
Birmingham-based games development house. Financial terms of the
transaction were not disclosed.
The deal brings immediate additional resource to
Codemasters’
development operations. Under the terms of the agreement Swordfish
Studio’s development team will be integrated and managed as part of
Codemasters’ network of studios. Trevor Williams, founder and
managing director of Swordfish Studios, will continue to lead the
studio reporting to Gavin Cheshire, VP, Codemasters Studios.
Carrying the Codemasters Studios imprint, the studio will create
original content using the company’s proprietary EGO Engine, the
technology behind racing hits
Colin McRae DiRT and
Race Driver: GRID and is currently powering the
highly-anticipated Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising.
“We are committed to growing our studio operations across multiple
facilities and increasing the internal capability of Codemasters’
creative resource,” said Gavin Cheshire, VP, Codemasters Studios.
“There is a strong heritage and a compatible skill set, which has
enabled us to fast track growth plans and allows for ease of
management. Codemasters has ramped up as a UK games development
powerhouse with a scalable support infrastructure that allows for
rapid deployment of the highly versatile EGO Engine.”
With a 15-year heritage, Swordfish is a past recipient of Best UK
Studio in the Develop Industry Excellence Awards and Best Company in
the TIGA Awards. Swordfish and Codemasters have partnered previously
for the development of hit sports titles Brian Lara International
Cricket 2005 and Jonah Lomu Rugby. Most recently
Swordfish led the creation of
50 Cent: Blood On The Sand for
Vivendi (now under the watchful eye of THQ).
The Birmingham studio becomes the Codemasters’ fourth major
development hub and joins established operations Codemasters Studios
Guildford (UK), Codemasters Studios Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and its
central base which operates from Codemasters’ corporate headquarters
in Warwickshire (UK). Codemasters continues its recruitment drive
for development talent in all studios locations, details of
positions are available at
www.codemasters.com or email
recruitment@codemasters.com. |
