HDTV/3D TV News
Gavin Cheshire, Codemasters Vice President of Studios, has been talking to Develop about the firm’s future.
In the interview, the subject of a 50% stake in Codemasters being purchased by Indian company Reliance Big Entertainment was raised, along with the many rumours that this might involve some sort of UK staff slashing or move to India for the studio.
Cheshire wanted to quickly lay that speculation to rest, telling Develop that: “I can safely say that this is absolutely not the case. There are obviously some ‘strategic’ moves for both partners, but in terms of development at the level we’re at, it’s very much about Reliance investing in our skills and abilities over here in the UK.”
He went on to say the company was actually going on a “major recruitment drive”, with work going ahead on the next Dirt game, as well as the next incarnations of Grid and Operation Flashpoint.
It’s great to hear there’ll be a new Grid, and we’ve been looking forward to Dirt 3 since we first heard about it, having been addicted to the online racing in the second game.
Shame about Operation Flashpoint 2, though – by all accounts, Codemasters knee-capped themselves by taking it away from BIS studios, who did the first and developed the game as the feature we knew it. Not the cocked up arcade bug-fest that was the pants sequel.
Indeed! There’s quite a buzz about the racing games online, but the virtual equivalent of tumbleweed regarding the mention of Flashpoint… Fingers crossed that the next one is an improvement…