Ubisoft has recently acquired the United Kingdom-based studio FreeStyle Games, the developer of "Guitar Hero Live" and the "DJ Hero" series. Before, the studio was known to be owned by the "Call of Duty" game publisher Activision.
FreeStyle Games will now be known as Ubisoft Leamington, which references the studio's location in Leamington Spa, according to Ubisoft. The Studio will have a close collaboration with Ubisoft Reflections as well as other international studios owned by Ubisoft to make Triple-A games.
In the same publication, managing director Richard Blenkinsop expressed his excitement in the group's collective expertise. He also said that the Ubisoft Reflections team is looking forward to working with them and creating great things. Blenkinsop took over Reflections for Pauline Langourieux, who now has a more "hands-on" production position within the studio.
However, the terms surrounding Ubisoft's acquisition of FreeStyle Games are yet to be revealed, according to Game Spot. As such, it is unclear what this means for the future of the "Guitar Hero Live" franchise.
FreeStyle Game was founded back in 2002 and is composed of more than 100 people across three studios, located in Leamington Spa, London, and Brighton. The developer was later on acquired by Activision in 2008, developing games such as the "DJ Hero" franchise, "Guitar Hero Live," and "Sing Party" for the Wii U.
After "Guitar Hero Live" was released in 2015, its sales were lower than Activision's expectations. As such, the publisher restructured the developer company and considered a range of future options for the company in the wake of the underperforming reinvention of the popular rhythm game for the Wii U.
Ubisoft Reflections Studio is the developers of the "Driver" series, as well as working with "Tom Clancy's The Division," "Grow Home," and "Watch Dogs." With this, it will be interesting to see what the two teams can come up with in the future.
Here is a video of "Guitar Hero Live."