Codemasters announced that it has acquired Evolution Studios. This new addition to Codemasters’ portfolio will officially kick off on April 25th 2016.

Over the past 30 years, both studios have created some of most successful racing franchises such as GRID, DiRT, Driveclub and Motorstorm.

Mick Hocking, formerly the GM and VP of Evolution Studios, will take the new position of VP Product Development at Codemasters and be responsible for all of the company’s studios, including the addition of the now multi-platform Evolution team in Cheshire.

Frank Sagnier, CEO of Codemasters, commented “The success of F1™ 2015 and DiRT Rally over the last 12 months has re-positioned the company for growth. The addition of the Evolution team to our studio group will allow us to scale our business and strengthen our leadership as the world’s premier racing game developer. I’m thrilled to have Mick Hocking join Codemasters as VP of Product Development. His experience in building AAA IP and leading great teams made him a natural choice to head the development of all of our products. I am equally thrilled to welcome his talented team to the Codemasters family and I look forward to the great games and brand new IP we will develop together.”

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Mick Hocking added “I’m delighted to be joining Codemasters at such an exciting time in the company’s growth. We have a shared passion for racing, a desire to innovate and a determination to create the best racing games and build the biggest racing community in the market. I’m very much looking forward to working with so many of the world’s greatest racing developers, on new IP as well as exciting franchises including DiRT, GRID, Micro Machines and the FORMULA ONE games.”