Creative Assembly announces new UK studio, Creative Assembly North

Creative Assembly has confirmed the opening of a new UK development studio, Creative Assembly North.

Headed up by Giselle Stewart OBE, the Newcastle studio will work “collaboratively” with Creative Assembly’s Sussex team on an unannounced project. As well as being the base of the company’s new Continuous Improvement Team, the new studio hopes to recruit over 100 developers in both creative and technical roles “over the coming years”.

It is Creative Assembly’s third studio, alongside its other teams in Sussex, UK, and Sofia, Bulgaria.

New studio director Stewart brings over 26 years’ experience with AAA developers, and “wider industry experience advocating for the games sector in previous positions as a board member of TIGA, the games developer’s trade association, the Creative Industries Federation and Ukie”.

“Starting a new development studio from scratch with the full support and insights of one of the UK’s oldest and largest studios is incredibly exciting. We are embracing flexibility, fast iteration, and creation, while fostering cross-location collaboration,” Stewart said.

“We are bringing new job opportunities to the North-East, building a studio which amplifies the fantastic culture and values of Creative Assembly. We will also extend the reach of the studio’s award-winning outreach programme, the Legacy Project, to support excellence in industry education in the region.”

Last August, developer Creative Assembly revealed it was working on a new “action project” that will sit alongside the likes of Total War and its long-in-the-works sci-fi shooter Hyenas.

But don’t expect to hear more on this project anytime soon, Creative Assembly said at the time. Instead, there will be a “significant wait before further details are revealed” on this new franchise. Intriguingly, the company noted it also had plans for a separate “yet to be announced project”.