Ex-Sony developers go it alone

FOUR games designers who lost thier jobs when Sony closed its Liverpool studio last year have set up on their own.

Designers Mike Humphrey and Karl Jones have joined forces with lead programmer Andrew Jones, and artist Jon Eggelton to set up Sawfly Studios.

The team previously worked on Sony games such as Wipeout, Motorstorm and Formula 1.

Managing director Mike Humphrey said: “As soon as news went out about the studio closure we were all approached by large developers regarding new jobs.

“To be honest, our first instinct was to take positions with those relatively secure companies. However, the more we thought about it the more we realised that we had something more to contribute to the games industry.

“We knew that the only way to make our own games, exactly the way we wanted to make them, was to start our own studio. At Sawfly we want to create amazing and memorable gameplay experiences under our own terms, so that’s exactly what we’re doing.”

Sawfly has started pitching its own ideas but is also taking on contracts for other companies. It is just finishing its first title for Liverpool games publisher Ripstone.

Liverpool’s economic development agency Liverpool Vision helped Sawfly with business advice.

In August Sony announced the closure of the games development office in Liverpool, which started out as Psygnosis, with the loss of around 50 jobs. The group wanted to move the investment to other games development studios.