Publisher Codemasters is taking over the entire team from developer Evolution Studios. The rights to the games created by the English studio will remain with Sony. What Evolution Studios will make for Codemasters is unknown.
Sony announced in March that it plans to close Evolution Studios. The console builder tried to relocate part of the team within the group, but the vast majority of the team ended up on the street. That is now about to change, as publisher Codemasters has offered all former Evolution Studios employees a job. Most of the employees have accepted the offer, meaning that almost the entire Evolution team will stay together and can continue to make games under the banner of Codemasters. Because Codemasters hires employees who have already been laid off, it owes Sony no money.
Codemasters is happy with the new employees. The English publisher decided a few years ago to focus solely on racing games and now has an experienced development team. The rights to WRC, the Motorstorm games and to DriveClub, the games that Evolution Studios has delivered in recent years, will remain with Sony. As far as Codemasters is concerned, the studio will therefore focus on developing completely new racing games. The studio even gets the chance to develop a new engine. Mick Hocking, one of the founders of Evolution, has also made the switch to Codemasters. He even gets a high position within the publishing house; as VP of product development, he will be responsible for all games made at Codemasters’ own studios.
It is unknown when Evolution will deliver its first game under the Codemasters banner.
Our DriveClub video review