Codemasters welcomes the team from Evolution Studios

April 11th, 2016 by codemasters

We have very exciting news today. We’re delighted to announce that on the 25th April, Codemasters will be expanding its portfolio of studios to include the highly-respected and very talented team from Evolution Studios.

Why are we so excited? Well, that should be pretty obvious! Over the last 30 years, Codemasters and Evolution Studios have created some of the most successful racing franchises in the industry, including GRID®, DiRT®, DRIVECLUB and MotorStorm. This expansion will not only see us gain a wealth of racing expertise and skill, but it’ll take Codemasters to the next level as the world’s largest racing-focused games company. With phenomenal racing DNA on both sides, we hope that gamers out there are excited to see what we do next – as are all of us here at Codies.

We’re also delighted that Mick Hocking – formerly of Evolution Studios – will be taking the position of VP Product Development at Codemasters; a role which will see him responsible for all of the company’s studios – including the addition of the now multi-platform Evolution team in Cheshire.

Codies CEO Frank Sagnier has said of the union, “The success of F1™ 2015 and DiRT Rally over the last 12 months has re-positioned the company for growth. The addition of the Evolution team to our studio group will allow us to scale our business and strengthen our leadership as the world’s premier racing game developer. I’m thrilled to have Mick Hocking join Codemasters as VP of Product Development. His experience in building AAA IP and leading great teams made him a natural choice to head the development of all of our products. I am equally thrilled to welcome his talented team to the Codemasters family and I look forward to the great games and brand new IP we will develop together.”

Mick Hocking added, “I’m delighted to be joining Codemasters at such an exciting time in the company’s growth. We have a shared passion for racing, a desire to innovate and a determination to create the best racing games and build the biggest racing community in the market. I’m very much looking forward to working with so many of the world’s greatest racing developers, on new IP as well as exciting franchises including DiRT, GRID, Micro Machines™ and the FORMULA ONE™ games.”

On a personal note, we can’t wait to welcome the Evolution team to Codemasters. Being huge fans and admirers of the DRIVECLUB and MotorStorm games – as well as their enthusiastic and extremely passionate communities – it’s genuinely exciting to be joining forces with such an awesome team. We’re celebrating our 30th birthday this year, and we can’t think of a better way to see it in than to be bringing on board such a monumentally talented group of people. We can’t wait to start working together, and to see what this combination of incredible talents has in store!