Rare continues hiring spree by picking up ex-FreeStyleGames and Lionhead staff

British outlet Rare has furthered strengthened its workforce by picking up devs from studios struck by layoffs and closures.

Among the most recent engineering additions are David Dempsey and Ian Norris, formerly of FreeStyleGames.

They join fellow FreeStyle alumnus Jason Pickthall, who served as lead concept artist at the studio.

The Activision-owned creator of Guitar Hero and DJ Hero was restructured at the start of April, with its publisher parent announcing it would “rebalance staff”.

Meanwhile, Ted Timmins will lead up PC design and development at Rare, having formerly lead design at recently deceased studio Lionhead, as well as Another Place Productions.

Over on the communications side, Simon Prodger has joined as director of audience and brand strategy and Emma Bridle is now leading Rare’s social media strategy and output.

In total, the Sea of Thieves creator has hired 13 new staff over the last three months – and it continues to look for fresh recruitment.

"It’s a privilege to lead such as a special team at Rare, and we are always looking to bring in great new talent,” said studio head Craig Duncan.

“The studio is on an amazing journey, taking on new and hard challenges that I believe will see us create something incredible and relevant. We’re also doing more than making a game – we’re building a long-term business that requires the team to pull together in entirely new ways.

“There’s genuinely never been a more exciting time to be at Rare in its thirty-year history. If there are talented people out there who’d like to be a part of it, we’d love to hear from them.”