Studio Cambridge Profile
The Cambridge Studio, award-winning creators of Primal™, GhostHunter™ and the MediEvil™ series was formed in July 1997 when Sony Computer Entertainment Europe acquired the Millennium development studio from Cyberlife Ltd.
Cambridge’s next project sees them bringing Sir Daniel Fortesque back to life, in MediEvil Resurrection, this time on Sony’s groundbreaking handheld, the PSP™. With the voice of Tom Baker as Death, the game has a quirky humour which fans of the originals will instantly recognise.
Also in development, is the game of Twentieth Century Fox’s globally acclaimed TV-show 24™. Featuring Kiefer Sutherland as CTU agent Jack Bauer, alongside one of the largest casts of Hollywood actors ever to feature on PlayStation®2, the game allows the player to see what it would be like to spend ‘one of those days’ in Jack Bauer’s shoes. Written by a scriptwriter from the TV-show’s in-house team, the game answers a host of questions left open in the three year gap between seasons 2 & 3.
Going back in time, MediEvil, released in 1998, told the tale of Sir Daniel Fortesque, a skeletal knight, who, although a coward in life, must prove himself a true hero in the afterlife in order to defeat his kingdom's arch-nemesis, the evil sorcerer Zarok.
A critical and commercial success, the best-selling MediEvil shot the Cambridge Studio to the forefront of gamers’ psyches and paved the way for the team to begin work on a highly anticipated sequel. In 2000, MediEvil 2 was released to critical acclaim, winning “Best Game – Console Category” at that year’s BAFTA awards (Britain’s equivalent of the Oscars).
For their next project, Cambridge moved in a somewhat different direction, trading in the antics of the undead for aliens enslaving humanity in C12: Final Resistance. In early 2001, while part of the team was putting the final touches on this action-packed PlayStation® adventure, work had already begun on the company’s first PlayStation2 title.
Primal, a complex fusion of story and gameplay, delivered a new standard in entertainment on PlayStation2. The Cambridge Studio created a huge, atmospheric universe, allowing for uninterrupted gameplay, seamless character morphing, and extravagant particle and environmental effects. In realising Primal's compelling plot and well-developed characters, Cambridge took major steps towards achieving Hollywood production values within a videogame.
Utilising all the technical experience gained from Primal, the Cambridge Studio went on to complete yet another ambitious project – GhostHunter. Inspired by many of the all-time classic horror films, GhostHunter combined high production values with addictive gameplay, creating a macabre, supernatural universe packed with stealth, exploration and all-out action.
Cambridge’s international appeal is evident from the breadth of distribution of their games. MediEvil, Primal and GhostHunter were all launched around the world, including the US and Japan. Also expanding into new territories, Primal was the first PlayStation2 product ever to be fully localized for the Russian market and GhostHunter followed suit being localized for Russia, plus becoming the first PlayStation2 title ever to be fully localized in Greek.
Staying true to its independent roots, Cambridge continues to invest time and money in research and development and the studio infrastructure. Generally considered to be one of the most technically advanced studios in the world, Cambridge now has, amongst many other assets, a comprehensive set of custom development tools and libraries for Sony’s PlayStation family of consoles. The studio currently comprises 90 development staff under the direction of Development Director, Rob Parkin.
