UK dev Atomicom reinvented as Starlight Games to focus on new IP
Former Psygnosis developer Gary Nichols has formed a new studio, Starlight Games.
Based in Liverpool, the team had previously been working as Atomicom since 2010.
"We decided we wanted a fresh new studio focused on creating our own IP, so Starlight Games was born," founder and CEO Gary Nichols tells GamesIndustry.biz.
Representatives said Starlight was formed as a different company because new investment was landed to focus on building a team around new IP, moving away from its previous specialty as a work-for-hire studio.
The Atomicom name was therefore abandoned for the studio to reinvent itself as Starlight Games. Atomicom will still exist on paper, to fulfil a historic IP deal and for VGTR reasons, but the whole team moved over to work under the new Starlight banner, and is still operating from the same office in Liverpool as well.
In addition to Nichols, the Starlight founding team includes new hires production designer Ben Cronin (Gamesco, Openbox Gaming), design director Nick Burcombe (Psygnosis, Playrise), and game director Andy Santos (PortalOne, co-creator of Skate).
"We already had a core team in place and wanted to build on this with our great relationships, experience, and history and make sure we had the right talent internally, as well as those we work with as contractors who feel the same as we do," Nichols explains. "We have worked to bring in many new people and offer them a great place to work and ability to help us move forward and build this new studio."
He continues: "We are a tight team, and we have ambitions on the games we want to create, which are fun and diverse, and we want to also embrace new talent within the studio across different roles, helping give the new generation of passionate game developers a chance to get into the games industry."
Starlight currently has several games in development, including House of Golf 2, a successor to its own 2019 title released under the Atomicom name, and a couple new IPs including a "futuristic" sports game
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