Sony paid £16m for Evolution

MCV sister site Develop reports that Sony‘s acquisition of Evolution and BigBig Studios cost the company 16 million, according to the Liverpool Daily Post.

Based in Runcorn and founded in 1999, Evolution has developed the WRC series exclusively for Sony and most recently the PS3 launch title MotorStorm. Spin-off studio Bigbig opened in 2001 and has developed the Pursuit Force series of games for PSP and PS2.

Evolution was founded by Martin Kenwright and Ian Hetherington, the winner of the Development Legend award at 2007’s Develop Industry Excellence Awards.

According to the report, Kenwright owned 75 per cent of the company with the majority of the rest owned by Hetherington. Both have now left the studio, with previous MD Mick Hocking elevated to the position of group studio director of Evolution, Bigbig and SCE Worldwide Studios’ Liverpool Studio.