Second studio for Swordfish

The new studio has been devised to support the work done at Swordfish’s Birmingham HQ and will be managed by Mike Delves, who reports to MD Trevor Williams.

Swordfish’s teams are hard at work on a new project, a currently unannounced next-gen title. The team previously made Cold Winter, which Vivendi published before acquiring the company last year.

Spearheading a new recruitment drive for the studio, the office’s opening will help the team add some 50 people to its ranks – a big step for the studio and its publisher owner, which is also hoping to bolster staff across all of its studios around the world.

"There is a wealth of talent around the M62 corridor in the north west of England," said MD Williams. "Our next generation projects require us to build on and expand our existing talent base, so we are looking for people with the right strengths, skills and talent."

The move is also another step in the rising power of UK-based publisher-owned studios following the acquisitions of Sports Interactive, Juice, Lionhead and Climax Racing (by Sega, THQ, Microsoft and BVG respectively) throughout 2006.