WipEout developers launch new studio with futuristic sports game planned

Developers from the original PS1 classic WipEout have formed a new studio, with a futuristic sports game on the way.

Starlight Games is a new studio based in Liverpool, UK, founded by former Psygnosis developer Gary Nichols.

He's joined by co-creator of WipEout Nick Burcombe, and Skate co-creator and former Horizon: Call of the Mountain director Andy Santos.

The studio will focus on developing new IP with innovative gameplay, all using Unreal Engine 5, plus it seeks to discover young new talent.

Its first game will be House of Golf 2 - a sort of home-based crazy golf game - releasing in summer 2024 across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. That's a follow up to the first game released on Switch in 2019.

Two further games are in development. One is a futuristic sports title directed by Burcombe, with more details expected soon. For now there's a teaser trailer featuring a number of people in coloured body suits and the caption "welcome to the future of sports".

The other is a "strategy sci-fi rogue-lite action experience".

Santos left Horizon: Call of the Mountain developer Firesprite in February 2022 a year before its release.

As reported by Eurogamer, the studio suffered crunch during the game's development and a number of high profile developers have since left.

The last WipEout game released was Omega Collection on PS4, which received a PS VR update in 2018. It's unclear what the future of the series is.