Rare Opens New Studio In Birmingham, UK

Today Rare, developers of Goldeneye, Conkers Bad Fury Day and the less cool, Viva Piñata, has unveiled its new West Midlands studio.

The company’s new Fazeley Studios in Digbeth, Birmingham will begin operations in April. Not far from its current HQ in Twycoss, it will compliment development of the long standing studio with mainly production, test and usability. According to an official statement:

"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."

90 new staff are expected to be added to this site to work on new productions so get your applications in! Rare Studio Head Mark Betteridge commented:

"The old way of making games just doesn't work anymore - we need to be much more flexible in how we staff a team and setting up new facility in Digbeth will help us to do this. "

"Its central location and the nature of other businesses in the area make it a very appealing environment in which to work. While we are committed to keeping our headquarters in Twycross, we feel a second studio in a more urban location will be appealing to some staff."

Creator of Fazeley studios, Lucan Gray added:

"I am delighted that Rare has chosen Fazeley Studios for its second base. The fact that a Microsoft Games Studio is coming to Digbeth shows how things have moved on in the area in the last couple of years, in spite of the challenging economic background.

"Our aim is for Digbeth to be the geographic heart of Birmingham's digital economy. You can't get much better than Microsoft arriving as a vote of confidence in our ability to deliver that aim."