Playtonic celebrates its first birthday by hiring more ex-Rare devs

Playtonic, the Yooka-Laylee creator formed by a fair chunk of former Rare staffers, has picked up another set of devs from its spiritual parent.

Damien Sparkes is an experienced environment artist who has previously worked on the Banjo-Kazooie, Conker and Perfect Dark franchises, as well as moving into the physical world, crafting Fighting Fantasy miniatures in partnership with Games Workshop co-founder Ian Livingstone.

Joining him is animator Gary Talbot, who was working on Rare’s new game Sea of Thieves before his jump across to Playtonic. In the past he also contributed to Banjo-Kazooie and Perfect Dark, including Xbox 360 release Perfect Dark Zero.

A non-Rare alumni joining Playtonic is Hamish Lockwood, an Australian game designer who counts in his credits sneaky titles Stealth Inc and Mike Bithell’s Volume.

The trio of new appointments coincide with Playtonic’s first ‘official’ birthday, with the studio having announced its formation last February.