We’re pleased to reveal Wushu Studios, a brand new independent game development studio based in Liverpool’s high-tech creative quarter, the Baltic Triangle. Founded in August 2017, the team is helmed by veteran AAA developers behind the highly successful MotorStorm and Driveclub franchises, as well as fresh talent from around the world. Leadership is comprised of studio founder Alan McDermott (former Evolution Studios, PlayStation), design director Nigel Kershaw (former Evolution Studios, PlayStation, Deep Silver, Revolution Software), and art director Stuart Trevor (former Evolution Studios, PlayStation).
Currently supporting a team of 11 and expanding, Wushu Studios formed with a goal of moving away from the AAA grind to create games with interesting mechanics, unique concepts and to deliver fun, refreshing gameplay experiences to players.
While we’re not quite ready to talk about our new game in detail just yet, we can confirm that prototyping began in September 2017 using Unreal Engine 4, and it is a brand-new IP with a tantalizing and unexpected take on the science fiction genre.
“Our core team at Wushu have worked together closely on numerous projects over the years so there was no downtime in figuring out how to work together, we just fell straight into a groove kicking around game ideas that appealed to us as players and developers”, says studio lead Alan McDermott.
“We firmly believed in the idea that our initial concepts needed to be gamepad experiences as quickly as possible, so we turned to Unreal Engine for it’s amazing rapid prototyping capabilities. This approach has helped us figure out which of our concepts would allow us to flex our creative muscle most. It’s definitely not what people will be expecting to see from us; it’s absolutely not a racing game!”
Alan McDermott, studio lead and a passionate gamer himself, spent many years as audio director on the highly successful MotorStorm and Driveclub franchises at Evolution Studios and Sony Computer Entertainment. In pursuit of other creative avenues, Alan left Sony after 11 years and worked as creative director on the critically acclaimed VR god-game Tethered in 2016.
Since then, Alan has been focused on bringing together a talented and passionate crew of former colleagues, industry veterans and exciting emerging talent to develop a unique and compelling new game concept.
Nigel Kershaw, our design director, has been working in the video games industry for nearly 30 years from the heydays of Ocean Software all the way to Deep Silver, Sumo Digital, and Evolution Studios where he was game director on the highly popular MotorStorm: Pacific Rift.
Stuart Trevor, an industry veteran of 15 years, heads up the artistic side of the party as studio art director, having previously been lead artist and creative lead at Evolution Studios. He also possesses an established work history on other major IPs and brands such as Dark Souls, Saint’s Row, SEGA, Adidas and Ford in the areas of art and visual effects, trailer production, motion graphics, and more.
Progress on the prototype has been extremely positive, and the team are working with a number of talented artists, including former senior BioWare concept artist Alex Figini.
Wushu Studios signifies a new beginning for a talented and invigorated group ready to tackle exciting, new challenges. We can’t wait to share more in the coming weeks and months. In the meantime, please be sure to follow us on Twitter at @wushustudios for updates. Visit our official website to learn more and drop us a line there if you’re interested in working with us!
