Split/Second devs start new studio

By Fred Dutton Published 20 June, 2011

Black Rock staff set up ShortRound Games.

A number of staffers laid off at Split/Second studio Black Rock earlier this year have resurfaced with their own new start-up.

According to GamesIndustry.biz, Brighton-based ShortRound Games is the brainchild of former Black Rock game director Andrew Hubbard, technical director Kim Burrows, technical art director Stuart Pharoah and creative and art director Steve Uphill.

It has two demos in the works and plans to release a showreel in the next couple of weeks to drum up interest.

"We've just been made redundant from Black Rock which has given us a great opportunity to achieve what we all came into this industry to do; make games that we want to play and in the way that we want to make them," explained Hubbard.

"We're all really privileged to have worked on some great games like the Burnout series and Split/Second and have now got the chance to take what we've learnt and apply it to our own creations."

ShortRound will be platform agnostic, though Hubbard hinted it was interested in portable development.

"As for publishers and platforms, we're in talks with various publishers but not ruling out being self published and are keen to release on iPad or even Sony's Vita," he said.

"One thing that we know is that we want to make games that really suit the platform, there's too many iOS games that don't feel natural on a touch screen and leave you yearning for a joypad."

It's the second studio to emerge from the downsizing that stripped Black Rock of around 100 employees back in April. Late last month, Split/Second director Nick Baynes and senior producer Ian Monaghan announced they had set up Roundcube Entertainment.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (17) Latest comment 11 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • beastmaster #1 11 months ago

    "Inndddy!!"

  • HisDudness #2 11 months ago

    Fortune and glory.

  • riceNpea #3 11 months ago

    'Hey Lady! You call him Dr. Jones!'

  • Der_tolle_Emil #4 11 months ago

    Split/Second is almost at the top of my 'have yet to buy' list. For me it was released at a really unfortunate time, I was way too busy with work. I enjoyed the demo a lot though.

  • nuanimal #5 11 months ago

    Very to happy bout this. Good to see some of the guys getting on, hope the other staff have been able to move on too.

  • the_dudefather #6 11 months ago

    They set up that studio pretty quickly, they must of had barely any time for love

  • Eraysor #7 11 months ago

    hopefully they won't be aRound for a Short length of time

  • Eldritch #8 11 months ago

    "to achieve what we all came into this industry to do; make games that we want to play"

    In my experience that's one of the most common mistakes in this industry. You may want to focus on "making games that paying clients want to play".
    Edited by Eldritch at 20/06/11 @ 22:16

  • Paul_cz #9 11 months ago

    I am just playing Split Second.

    Apart from 30fps cap (really stupid thing) and some idiotic oversights (shitty low res cutscenes between episodes, no x360pad labels in menus) it is absolutely fantastic. I really hope these guys will make something just as great in the future.

    Disney should burn in hell for their stupidity, releasing Split Second same time as RDR and Blur, and with such a limited release that the game is NOWHERE TO BE BOUGHT ON THE INTERWEBZ.

  • linea #10 11 months ago

    Sod the fricking ipad. I want them to make a big balls-out arcade console racer. Come on EA or Take-2 or someone, give them loads of money.

  • OrangesJoel #11 11 months ago

    Hold onto your potatoes.

  • Ryboy #12 11 months ago

    Please make Split/Second: Velocity Uber Two, with AI that doesn't have to cheat. Fucking heavy-ass 4x4's speeding past me on straights when I'm supposedly in the fastest car. Pfff. It's just madness. Oh, and an interface that works. Cheers.

  • ShortRoundAndy #13 11 months ago

    @Eldritch "In my experience that's one of the most common mistakes in this industry. You may want to focus on "making games that paying clients want to play"."

    I’d actually say the opposite in that the most common mistake in this industry is thinking you’re making a game for a client and second guessing what they want. We are the clients, we play COD and Angry Birds for fun like everybody else, we’re just lucky that our hobby and passion is what we do for a living.
    Edited by ShortRoundAndy at 21/06/11 @ 10:16

  • DefendoCroc #14 11 months ago

    Ok, so make splittsecond again , loose the naff 'tv' show aspect and add some vehicle weapons, game on!

  • darleysam #15 11 months ago

    It just occurred to me. If Sony release a slimmed-down Vita, will it be called the Vita-lite?

    That's an old joke, right?

  • DAN.E.B #16 11 months ago

    Yeah thats right!

  • Slipstream #17 11 months ago

    Great news for very talented developers, so glad they had the drive to pick themselves up quickly.
    Sounds like they've got ideas they really want to put out there, well I'm all for it.