As People Can Fly continues to work on their ambitious AAA shooter with Square Enix, the Warsaw based developer continues to expand with new studios. In 2017, they opened a studio in Newcastle, UK and in 2018 they hired several developers laid off by CI Games to form a team in Rzeszow, Poland. Today, People Can Fly announced that a new studio has been opened by them in New York City. The aptly named People Can Fly New York will contribute to their unannounced shooter.
This marks People Can Fly’s first foray into having a studio in North America and puts their total developer count over 200. As of now, 30 developers from Eidos Montreal, Ninja Theory, Activision Blizzard, and Avalanche Studios make up People Can Fly New York, though there are plans to expand further. Sebastian Wojciechowski, who DualShockers interviewed back in January, seemed pleased by the acquisition, stating “It’s an amazing time for People Can Fly. With the opening of our New York studio, we will surpass 200 staff, which will help us accelerate the development of our AAA project with Square Enix. At the same time, People Can Fly now has a strategic foothold in one of the greatest cities in the world by which to attract world-class talent.”
People Can Fly New York will be spearheaded by David Grijns as Studio Head and Roland Lesterlin as Executive Producer. Sebastian Wojciechowski spoke highly of the pair, highlighting the fact that “David and Roland have a fantastic track record in building and managing high-quality teams.” If you recognize those names, that is because that pair was behind Defiant Studios, the New York developer that was working on Lords of the Fallen 2 before publisher CI Games dropped them from the project last month. People Can Fly now has an odd habit of salvaging teams that CI Games leaves behind.
Having moved on from Lords of the Fallen 2, David Grijns is excited to be leading People Can Fly New York. “Sebastian immediately saw the unique opportunity our team represented, and we were amazed by the game People Can Fly has has been working on for the past few years. We couldn’t be happier to help build upon People Can Fly’s incredible track record and history and to work hand in hand with the amazing teams in Warsaw, Rzeszow, and Newcastle. We are also thrilled to be reunited with our old friends at Square Enix,” he stated.
Due to Grijns’ comments and the fact that Defiant Studios’ website now displays a “not found” message, Defiant Studios possibly could have turned into People Can Fly New York. DualShockers has reached out to People Can Fly for clarification and will update when we get a response. With expanding number of developers behind People Can Fly’s new game, it will hopefully end up even better than their previous games Bulletstorm and Gears of War: Judgment.
The post Bulletstorm Developer People Can Fly Opens Studio in New York City by Tomas Franzese appeared first on DualShockers.