Ubisoft acquires FreeStyle Games

Ubisoft has acquired FreeStyle Games, the studio behind Guitar Hero Live and DJ Hero, from Activision. It will now be called Ubisoft Leamington.

The studio will be led by new managing director Richard Blenkinsop. He will also lead Ubisoft Reflections, taking the position of Pauline Langourieux, who chose to take on a more hands-on production position within the studio.

According to Ubisoft, Ubisoft Leamington will work in close collaboration with Reflections and Ubisoft’s other International studios to develop AAA games.

Here’s a brief introduction to Blenkinshop:

With over 17 years’ experience in the industry, Richard has worked as producer, senior producer and executive producer on a variety of titles at Codemasters and Activision; these include the likes of Blur, Rome: Total War and Call of Duty 3.

Richard succumbed to the inexorable draw of his birth-city when he returned to Newcastle to join Reflections in 2012. Here, among other games, he’s worked on The Crew and Tom Clancy’s The Division. In 2014, he became the Associate Managing Director, and now Managing Director of the studio – a role in which he aims to build on Reflections’ 30-year legacy of quality, resilience and expertise, while cementing the studio’s reputation and growing its contribution to the games industry.