Wearside games developer set for expansion

A video games developer is set to expand its Sunderland base as it increases its international presence.

Pitbull Studio are working with US-based Epic Games to develop Unreal Engine 4 - the previous generation of which was used in many top selling games of recent years, including Gears of War, Infinity Blade and Mass Effect.

They are expecting to increase their 39 staff to 50 by the end of the year, most of whom will be in Sunderland.

Pitbull was formed in 2010 by industry veteran Robert Troughton after the original company was acquired then liquidated by US firm Midway.

The studio has worked on such titles as Gears of War: Judgment and Silent Hill: Downpour, assisting with development and performance issues.

It also developed Circus Challenge, a rehabilitative game for children with cerebral palsy and adult stroke victims, encouraging the use of the player’s afflicted arm in order to improve two-handed function.

Robert says: “The North East has a lot of games development talent.

“We have grown considerably with some of the best talent in the industry and have had the opportunity to work on some truly great technology and fantastic games.

“This has largely been down to our enthusiastic, hardworking and supportive team.”

Unreal Engine 4 is a technology that will be used across the world to develop games on the next generation of platforms such as playstation 4 and Xbox One, as well as mobile devices.

The United Kingdom is Europe’s largest video game market and the third largest in the world, worth an estimated £3.36bn in 2012.

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