sony computer entertainment industry computer & video games interactive entertainment predecessor bigbig studios founded 1999 founder martin kenwright ian hetherington mick hocking defunct 2016 headquarters runcorn cheshire united kingdom products world rally championship series motorstorm series owner sony 2007 2016 number of employees about 60 citation needed parent sie worldwide studios 2007 2016 website official website evolution studios ltd. was a british video game developer headquartered in runcorn cheshire . the company was founded in 1999 by martin kenwright and ian hetherington following the purchase of did s publisher ocean software by infogrames . kenwright left did with six members of staff to form evolution studios . contents 1 company overview 2 catalog 3 references 4 external links company overview edit then based in frodsham cheshire it developed a racing demo on pc depicting multiple rally cars racing on a circuit with cockpit views which was subsequently picked up by sony as it was interested in a playstation 2 game based on the world rally championship licence . both evolution and their satellite studio bigbig studios in warwickshire were acquired by sony computer entertainment in september 2007 . 1 at this point kenwright and hetherington left the company with its co founder mick hocking taking over running evolution bigbig and sce studio liverpool as group studio director . hocking was subsequently promoted to vice president of the studio group in april 2011 . the developer s last game was driveclub . it was scheduled as a ps4 launch title although it was ultimately delayed until october 2014 . they claim they had trademarked the name of the game almost 10 years ago but were waiting for the technology to create their vision of the game . citation needed on 23 march 2015 55 staff members were cut from evolution studio which sources say is approximately half the studio . the redundancies have been described by sony as a way to focus the studio on developing driveclub as a service . 2 on 22 march 2016 sony announced that evolution studios was closed . 3 on 11 april 2016 the development team joined codemasters . 4 codemasters ceo frank sagnier said that acquisition of the fifteen year long development practice of evolution studios allows the two racing game developers to pool their shared dna passion and talents . codemasters is keen on allowing the previous employees of evolution studios to retain their own unique style rather than assimilating them into the codemasters fold . 5 catalog edit year game platform s gamerankings metacritic notes 2001 world rally championship playstation 2 81.33 % 6 80 100 7 2002 wrc ii extreme 82.33 % 8 n a 2003 wrc 3 79.38 % 9 n a 2004 wrc 4 81.86 % 10 n a 2005 wrc rally evolved 79.81 % 11 n a 2006 motorstorm playstation 3 82.43 % 12 84 100 13 2008 motorstorm pacific rift 82.49 % 14 82 100 15 2011 motorstorm apocalypse 78.34 % 16 77 100 17 2012 motorstorm rc playstation 3 playstation vita 78.35 % 18 78 100 19 2014 driveclub playstation 4 70.72 % 20 71 100 21 references edit tgs sony buys motorstorm dev news ps3 eurogamer driveclub developer evolution set to lose 55 staff sources say . eurogamer . retrieved 24 march 2015 . brightman james 22 march 2016 . sony confirms closure of evolution studios . gamesindustry.biz . retrieved 22 march 2016 . skrebels joe 11 april 2016 . closed driveclub developer becomes a new codemasters studio . ign . retrieved 11 april 2016 . morgan dave 12 april 2016 . codemasters saves ex evolution studios developers . wholesgame . retrieved 14 april 2016 . world rally championship reviews . gamerankings . retrieved 4 july 2014 . world rally championship reviews . metacritic . retrieved 4 july 2014 . wrc ii extreme reviews . gamerankings . retrieved 4 july 2014 . wrc 3 reviews . gamerankings . retrieved 4 july 2014 . wrc 4 reviews . gamerankings . retrieved 4 july 2014 . wrc rally evolved reviews . gamerankings . retrieved 4 july 2014 . motorstorm reviews . gamerankings . retrieved 4 july 2014 . motorstorm reviews . metacritic . retrieved 4 july 2014 . motorstorm pacific rift reviews . gamerankings . retrieved 4 july 2014 . motorstorm pacific rift reviews . metacritic . retrieved 4 july 2014 . motorstorm apocalypse reviews . gamerankings . retrieved 4 july 2014 . motorstorm apocalypse reviews . metacritic . retrieved 4 july 2014 . motorstorm rc reviews . gamerankings . retrieved 4 july 2014 . motorstorm rc reviews . metacritic . retrieved 4 july 2014 . driveclub reviews . gamerankings . retrieved 4 july 2014 . driveclub reviews . metacritic . retrieved 4 july 2014 . external links edit official website gamespot.com profile of evolution studios moby games rap sheet of evolution studios v t e evolution studios wrc series world rally championship 2001 ii extreme 2002 3 2003 . 4 2004 rally evolved 2005 motorstorm series motorstorm 2006 pacific rift 2008 apocalypse 2011 rc 2012 other games driveclub 2014 key people martin kenwright ian hetherington related bigbig studios sony computer entertainment v t e sony interactive entertainment worldwide studios franchises ape escape arc the lad atv offroad fury boku no natsuyasumi buzz colony wars cool boarders dancestar party dark cloud destruction derby devil dice echochrome everquest everybody s golf everybody s tennis eyepet eyetoy fantavision fat princess g police genji god of war gran turismo gravity rush hustle kings infamous invizimals jak and daxter jet moto jumping flash killzone legend of legaia lemmings littlebigplanet locoroco medievil mlb the show modnation racers motorstorm motor toon grand prix ore no shikabane wo koete yuke oreshika parappa the rapper patapon planetside pursuit force rally cross ratchet & clank resistance savage moon shadow of the beast singstar siren sly cooper socom sports champions start the party super stardust syphon filter the eye of judgment the getaway this is football twisted metal uncharted vib ribbon warhawk what did i do to deserve this my lord no heroes allowed white knight chronicles wild arms wipeout wonderbook world tour soccer divisions bend studio foster city studio japan studio london studio san diego studio santa monica studio subsidiaries guerrilla games guerrilla cambridge j.s.e.e.d. playstation c.a.m.p. team gravity team ico media molecule naughty dog pixelopus polyphony digital sucker punch productions xdev former subsidiaries 989 studios bigbig studios contrail evolution studios incognito entertainment psygnosis team soho zipper interactive related list of video games published by sony interactive entertainment v t e world rally championship video game series main series original series world rally championship wrc ii extreme wrc 3 wrc 4 wrc rally evolved reboot series wrc fia world rally championship wrc 2 fia world rally championship wrc 3 fia world rally championship wrc 4 fia world rally championship wrc 5 fia world rally championship spin offs world rally championship psp wrc powerslide v t e motorstorm series main series motorstorm pacific rift apocalypse spin offs arctic edge rc related evolution studios bigbig studios virtuos sony computer entertainment this united kingdom video game corporation or company article is a stub . you can help wikipedia by expanding it . v t e retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title evolution studios & oldid 741831206 categories computer companies of the united kingdomvideo game companies established in 1999video game companies disestablished in 2016video game companies of the united kingdomvideo game development companiesdefunct video game companiesunited kingdom video game company stubshidden categories use dmy dates from march 2015use british english from march 2015all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from september 2016articles with unsourced statements from november 2014all stub articles navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces 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