Before this year’s apocalyptic groundswell of depressing news, Sega seemed to be opening new doors left and right. Amidst this cavalcade of exciting prospects was the brand new Hardlight Studios, a smaller European Sega-driven developer that would be working on a new action adventure for the Vita. Some of us wondered if the closure of Sega Europe would leave this fertile ground unseeded, but luckily it looks like that assumption was wrong.
The Solihull-based studio is still alive and well, and will be headed up by none other than former Codemasters executives Sion Lenton and Chris Southall, the latter a former CTO of Sega Europe. Known primarily for the controversial Game Genie, Codemasters have also brought us classics like Micro Machines on the Genesis, as well as modern titles like Operation Flashpoint and the Colin McRae Rally series.
While the intriguing Vita adventure title has been put on hold for the time being, Lenton has revealed that Hardlight will develop digital releases for modern handheld devices, using both original IPs and Sega’s expansive library of classic franchises.
Lenton had this to say about the studio’s exciting potential:
“We have no plans to limit ourselves to one genre, our ethos is more exploration of ideas and finding mechanics that we feel will stimulate and excite our users.”
“We have a huge box of toys to play with and we’ve only just begun to play with them, we are starting fairly small, leveraging Sega IP and as former console developers, learning about making games in the digital space. As you see our roadmap develop, you’ll see some more surprising & delighting uses of Sega IP, as well as original IP.”
Now that things are once again looking up for Sega, it’s nice to see that some of their more fringe legs have managed to emerge from the settling dust relatively unscathed. Considering how well the handheld market has been doing, Hardlight’s focus is hardly surprising, and while I will always prefer home gaming to handheld devices, I have to say I’m very intrigued to see what this studio can churn out.
[Source: Develop]
