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Codemasters Acquires Driveclub Developer Evolution Studios

Sony Computer Entertainment has recently closed Evolution Studios, but we learn that the publisher of Codemasters will integrate Driveclub developers so that they could work on a new license.

Evolution Studios Logo

Last month, it was noted that Sony Computer Entertainment finally decided to close Evolution Studios, a company formed in 1999 and to whom we owe many racing games such as WRC, MotorStorm and the more recent Driveclub.

If Sony had planned to reassign some developers in other studios, we learn that Codemasters has decided to integrate the development team within their premises. Indeed, the British publisher specializes in creating racing games (F1, GRID, etc), so much so that the value of integrating specialized designers is not trivial.

The information also comes from the website GameIndustry.biz where Codemasters CEO, Frank Sagnier, explains this chess move:

“We want the team to remain to remain the team that they are. We want to benefit from everything that they’ve learned as a team together, we want them to create their own games. Of course there will be synergies, of course we will share stuff, but we would like to make sure they retain their identity and stay together as a team to do what they’re good at. What we don’t want to do is bring in a team of 50 people and start having some work on one game and some on another, on existing IP. The whole point is to keep their DNA and build a new game.”

According to the statement published on the website of Codemasters, the team at Evolution Studios will be led to design a new racing game license. Sony will continue to maintain ownership of the brands with which Evolution worked in recent years, but effectively, has also received its own PS4 version of some of the latest games like F1 2015 of Codemasters or the recent DiRT Rally.