Unity opens Los Angeles office with Insomniac devs

Popular engine provider Unity has established a new branch in Los Angeles, California, with two former members of Insomniac Games at the helm.

The new office will be based in Burbank, not too far from where Insomniac can be found. The firm has hired Mike Acton and Andreas Fredriksson as principal engineers. The duo will be responsible for helping to develop the Unity engine further, drawing on their experience of AAA development and the requirements of such studios.

In the Unity blog post announcing the news, Acton hints that he and Fredriksson will be "working on [taking] data-oriented programming and [making] it accessible to everyone."

Acton previously held the position of engine director at Insomniac Games and has been working at Insomniac for more than a decade, helping to power titles such as Sunset Overdrive and various Ratchet & Clank games.

"I knew that this was an opportunity to not only change how games are built, but set a new bar for engineering across large-scale projects everywhere," he said. "And that was an opportunity I just could not ignore."

Fredriksson, meanwhile, was lead engine programmer at the Spider-Man studio, and previously worked at DICE on titles such as Battlefield 3.

"Joining Unity is an ideal and logical next step for me," he said. "Working on Frostbite and Insomniac Games' internal engine was very rewarding and challenging but, ultimately, the number of developers I could directly help was limited.

"Unity is everywhere. It is impossible to have a conversation about engine tech and game development without someone bringing up Unity. This means a much bigger stage for me to inspire and lead from, which is exciting."