FreeStyle co-founders praise Ubisoft acquisition

Two of the six co-founders for Guitar Hero Live developer FreeStyle Games have weighed in on the news that Ubisoft has acquired the studio, praising the publisher for keeping its team together.

News of the acquisition emerged earlier this month, with Ubisoft taking over FreeStyle from previous parent Activision. This week, GamesIndustry.biz spoke to David Osbourn and Jamie Jackson, who left the studio they helped form last year after a series of lay-offs.

"It's great news that that's happened," says Osbourn. "The The people that are part of that studio are going to get to experience another area of the games industry, see different ways that things work, which is always good for people's careers. We wish them well."

Jackson adds: "It's cool. We have a big emotional attachment to that studio, we had our hearts there for such a long time. A year ago, the studio was reduced in size greatly, so a lot of people moved on. I think it's great the team that are left have been able to remain together in some sense, and will be able to continue and hopefully keep a bit of that Freestyle spirit there."

Jackson added that the acquisition should also bolster the development community in the studio's home town of Leamington Spa "which is a pretty big hotspot for games in the UK", adding that had FreeStyle been closed instead "it would have been a shame to see all of those people disperse".

Osbourn and Jackson have formed a new studio, Slingshot Cartel, which will be unveiling a new eSports title at GDC at the end of the month. We got the full lowdown on their new venture, which you can read here.