Rare Opens New Studio - For Natal?

Microsoft-owned Rare has confirmed that it is opening a new premises in Birmingham and that the facility is an expansion and not a wholesale move or downsizing.

The site will be in Fazeley Studios, Digbeth Birmingham. "Fazeley’s main area of focus will be as a production, test and usability site to accommodate Rare’s evolving methodology in game creation" the announcement tells us. The studio, which opens in April, will initially house 90 staff.

On a more lofty note, Rare, which is the studio behind the likes of Banjo-Kazooie, tells us, "The new studio represents a move on Rare’s part to change the current model of games development working practices. It will enable them to attract contract staff from a large pool of talent."

The announcement goes on, "Rare believes that the current model of massive teams has lead to a boom and bust cycle in staffing terms and sees a film production model as a far better and more efficient way of creating triple A games going forward. The Fazeley studio will be home to some 90 staff working on new Rare games although number will fluctuate with the development cycle."

All that guff about changing development models aside, SPOnG's just glad to see a company creating jobs instead of shedding them - especially since first reports on the move were unclear as to whether this would be a move with downsizing, rather than a second site.

Of course, with Rare known to be heavily involved with Natal, it's not much of a leap to suggest that the upcoming motion sensor has something to do with the expansion...

Full announcement here.