In yet another bit of unfortunate news for UK developers, the Codemasters studio behind the recently released first-person shooter Bodycount looks to close. This news comes after the publisher proposed its plan to retire the Guildford development facility. Bodycount released to generally poor and a very weak showing on the UK charts, placing 36th.
The move is said to affect around 66 people at the studio, who is moving to strengthen its core racing portfolio, which is already strong with games like DiRT, GRID, and the F1 titles. This upcoming closure takes place just two weeks after Disney Interactive shut down the doors at Black Rock Studios.
Codemasters released a statement concerning this news and the closing of the Guildford development facility:
Codemasters’ future product development strategy will see additional studio resource invested to extend its world-class racing portfolio. The company is increasing the size of existing development teams at its on-campus studios in Warwickshire (DiRT, GRID, F1 Online, Central Technology/EGO) while forming a further team to work alongside the F1 2011 team at its Birmingham studio on a new racing title.
In line with the strategy, the company is proposing to retire from its facility in Guildford, most recently responsible for the shooter Bodycount. If progressed, the move will affect 66 Guildford studio personnel; staff are now involved in a consultation period to discuss the proposal.
As Codemasters looks to take greater leadership in the racing category, the company is proposing a studio structure that adds resource and strengthens our best-in-class racing teams.
The output from the studios on the Warwickshire campus and in Birmingham is on the increase with multiple continuing game series, brand extensions and new racing IPs in production. Both the Warwickshire and Birmingham studios have won BAFTAs for their critically acclaimed, multi-million selling titles and the company is adding resource to ensure they constantly over achieve in this competitive sector.
Codemasters envisages that it will continue to have a number of open positions within the Racing and Online studio teams at Codemasters’ campus in Warwickshire working on DiRT, GRID, F1 Online and with the F1 team in Birmingham, which is being expanded to house a full second team working on a new racing IP. In the event that staff working within the Guildford site are affected by the current proposals, they will be encouraged to apply for suitable positions on campus and in the Birmingham studio.
As with any closure, we hope the best for all of those without a job, hopefully they can find new work fast.
