It has been reported that Playground Games, the developer of the Forza series has been enrolling developers from several other studios for the purpose of developing Open-World RPG games. A brand new studio has been inaugurated which will provide for 200 jobs, gradually converting the total work force of Playground Games to 400 employees.
Sean Eyestone, who is a former member of Kojima Productions, has become the newest addition to the team and has taken on the role of production director, thereby, leaving his position of senior producer for EA’s new Battlefront II. Among the other two developers hired are Will Kennedy, who was involved in the making of GTA V as the chief designer for both the multiplayer and singleplayer and Juan Fernandez di Simon who was the principal combat designer for Ninja Theory’s Hellblade.
News regarding Playground’s new headquarters for housing the freshly recruited work force has also reached us. It has been reported that the office of the second studio will open within its home town itself. The new premises was revealed by property advisor Bromwich Hardy in his blog. Playground’s new studio is located at St Albans House and is 17,365 square feet. (source: gamesindustry.biz)
“We’re delighted that we’ve secured a second studio to house our new team,” CEO Gavin Raeburn tells GamesIndustry.biz. “This is a hugely exciting project that is already attracting world-class talent to Playground.”
“The combination of new blood and experienced Playground team members is already showing huge promise and I’m excited to see this talented group contribute to Playground’s continued success.” he further quoted.
While Playground Games did go on saying that their project would appertain to modern RPG games they have not released any details of what the project is precisely.