Swordfish Studios acquisition
Developer's Birmingham base absorbed by Codemasters.
Friday 14th November/...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.
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
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Codemasters is a leading developer and publisher of best-selling interactive entertainment products for a global audience across multiple gaming platforms and channels. Established in 1986, the company’s dominant brands include Colin McRae DiRT, Race Driver GRID, Overlord and Operation Flashpoint; the company recently secured the exclusive worldwide video game rights to FORMULA 1. Codemasters is the recipient of the UK Developer of the Year title from the 25th Golden Joystick Awards and, most recently, Codemasters Studios recently won the UK Development Team category in the MCV Industry Excellence Awards 2008. Codemasters’ cross-platform development technology the EGO™ Engine was named Best Technology 2007 in the awards hosted by TIGA, the Independent Game Developers Association. Codemasters is headquartered in Warwickshire UK, with North American operations based in Universal City, Calif. The company also maintains operations in Japan, Germany, France, Spain, Benelux and Malaysia. Codemasters receives over two million visitors to its web site every month, discover why at www.codemasters.com
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