Financially troubled developer, Crytek, is selling off assets to help reach solvency and one of those has been to dispatch some of the international development houses it owns. The latest to hit the auction block is Crytek Black Sea, which has now been purchased outright by Sega and Creative Assembly. It will now be known, as Creative Assembly Sofia.
Although another sign of Crytek's contraction, this is rather the opposite of how Creative Assemly is operating right now. Following the massive success of Total War: Warhammer, it's expanded its workforce by more than a third in the last year alone. It also opened a third studio in the UK, which includes its own motion capture studio.
Sofia is just a new expansion in a different country. Based in Bulgaria, where Crytek Black Sea was originally formed, the overseas developer will begin work on Creative Assembly projects immediatley and may help expand the line up of titles that are currently being worked on in an unannounced capacity.
"The acquisition of Crytek Black Sea further enhances SEGA Europe’s development capabilities and strengthens our ability to output diverse and engaging content for our IP. Creative Assembly Sofia will be working exclusively on content for Creative Assembly and will prove an invaluable asset given the multitude of unannounced titles currently in the works." said Jurgen Post, president and COO of SEGA Europe (via PCGamesN). "This acquisition represents another step in the right direction for the growth of our global business, underlining our commitment to add value to our existing studios and our continued support for the UK games industry."
Total War Warhammer 2 is likely to be one of the many titles that Sofia contributes to, though we'll have to wait until E3 later this year to learn more.
