Lockwood Publishing opens new UK studio in Newcastle
Industry veteran Joe Stevens to lead team of former Ubisoft colleagues
The publisher behind mobile game Avakin Life has announced the expansion of its business with the opening of a third studio.
Headed up by industry veteran Joe Stevens, Lockwood Newcastle already has six staff, many of whom previously worked with him at Ubisoft.
The new branch will support development efforts of Lockwood's other studios in Nottingham and Leamington Spa.
"My background and that of the team is heavily focused on 3D graphics and engine programming within the games industry," said Stevens.
"Being given the opportunity to deliver a next generation avatar system to a large mobile game, is a hugely exciting challenge.
"It's always great if you are given the opportunity to keep or bring the band back together. We want to push the limits of 3D experiences on mobile devices and take the avatar experience in Avakin Life to the next level."
Released in December 2013, the free-to-play virtual world simulation Avakin Life has since grown to over 3.5 million monthly active users, and is Lockwood's sole product on the market.
Halli Bjornsson, CEO of Lockwood Publishing added: "In order to continuously provide an amazing experience and improve features that matter to our players we are continuing to expand our team with exceptional talent that can survive in a live service.
"When we met Joe Stevens in 2017 we felt immediately that he can - with a great team around him - bring one of our core features to another level. We are incredibly excited to see how well he and his team have already adopted to the Lockwood way of doing things"