Williams and Wheelwright return with Playground Games

UK games industry veterans Trevor Williams and Nick Wheelwright are planning to open a new studio in the Midlands, Develop can reveal.

Called Playground Games, the new studio from the former Codemasters execs will focus on projects that utilise new business models for games across all formats.

Playground will officially open at the start of the year with a core team that will eventually grow to 20.

Williams founded Swordfish Studios which he eventually sold to Vivendi Games – the studio was eventually divested in the Activision Blizzard acquisition and sold to Codeamsters. Williams remained at Codemasters for a year until departing last month, as we revealed here.

Wheelwright was previously CEO of Codemasters, although his tenure did not overlap with Williams’ – the formation of Playground is the first time the two have worked directly together.

"We are looking at the triple-A, premium, big budget end of that market," WIlliams told Develop today. "Quality is our key focus."

He added: "We are going to be looking at new business models. We are in an emerging market and independent studios are much better placed to exploit those developing opportunities."

Develop will have more details on the studio and its execs’ plans in the weeks ahead.