Responsible for Motorstorm, WRC and Driveclub, Evolution Studios is no more, Sony has confirmed.
Evolution’s latest title, Driveclub, had a troubled development cycle, and now the studio is being closed for good.
Sony announced the closure today in an official statement:
“Regular reviews take place throughout SCE Worldwide Studios, ensuring that the resources that we have in such a competitive landscape can create and produce high quality, innovative and commercially viable projects.”
“As part of this process we have reviewed and assessed all current projects and plans for the short and medium term and have decided to make some changes to the European studios structure.”
“As a result, it has been decided that Evolution Studio will close.”
Sony added that it hopes to reallocate some of Evolution to different studios, but redundancies for much of the team are inevitable.
“It is regrettable that this decision will lead to compulsory redundancies. We accept that this decision will mean that we risk losing high calibre staff but by focusing on other Studios that already have exciting new projects in development we believe we will be in a stronger position going forward and able to offer the best possible content of the highest quality for our consumers.”
“Where possible we will try to reallocate people onto other projects. If appropriate opportunities are not possible within the company, we will assist staff in any way we can, including speaking with local employers and with other development companies.”
Evolution Studios was first acquired by Sony in 2008 shortly after the launch of Playstation 3.
The studio made some excellent games, and we hope they go on to make more in the future.
