Shortround Games has hit a dead end, as blockchain gaming firm Mythical Games today announced it has acquired the RGX Showdown studio's team and its technology.
Shortround's team of eight developers including studio director Andrew Hubbard will join Mythical Europe, which is being headed up by Adam Schaub, a former EA studio general manager and CEO of defunct mobile studio Strange Quest.
As part of Mythical Europe, the new hires from Shortround will help the company realize its aspirations to build engaging virtual worlds that leverage the Mythical Platform, beginning with an unannounced sports game releasing in 2023," the company said.
Shortround was founded a little over a decade ago by a group of developers from Black Rock Studio in the wake of Disney shuttering the Split/Second studio.
The studio produced four games as an independent developer. The first three -- Friendly Fire, Global Outbreak, and Rival Gears -- were made for mobile platforms, but Shortround pivoted to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One with its most recent title, 2018's RGX Showdown.
which is being bought by Microsoft Corp., will release at least the next three games in its hit Call of Duty franchise on Sony Group Corp.’s PlayStation as well as its new owner’s Xbox.
Before news of the $69 billion acquisition broke last week, Activision had already committed to make the next few Call of Duty games available on Sony’s console, according to four people with knowledge of the deal, speaking anonymously because they were not authorized to speak to press.
That includes this year’s Call of Duty, expected to be a new entry in the popular Modern Warfare sub-series being developed by Infinity Ward, and the following game, which is in development at Treyarch, both Activision-owned studios. The deal also includes a planned new iteration of Call of Duty Warzone, the lucrative free-to-play game that was released in 2020.
Phil Spencer, who was recently appointed chief executive officer of Microsoft Gaming, said last week that he had spoken to Sony leadership about the franchise. “I confirmed our intent to honor all existing agreements upon acquisition of Activision Blizzard and our desire to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation,” he said on Twitter. “Sony is an important part of our industry, and we value our relationship.
Traditionally, Call of Duty games have been released on Xbox, PC and PlayStation, where they drive substantial sales. Call of Duty games have received heavy promotion on the PlayStation store and been tied to massive marketing deals in recent years. Every game in the annual franchise ranks among the top-selling games on PS4 and PS5. Call of Duty games have been the bestselling titles in the U.S. each of the last three years, according to the NPD Group.
For at least the next two years, Microsoft is committed to releasing Call of Duty on PlayStation, the people said. Neither Sony, nor Activision responded to requests for comment. Microsoft declined to commen
Plans are hazier for the Call of Duty games further out, said the people familiar with the matter. Microsoft said it expects the acquisition to close sometime in the next six to 18 months, after which it will be able to decide whether to continue releasing future Call of Duty games on PlayStation. Top employees at Activision have also discussed spacing out Call of Duty releases rather than putting them out every year, Bloomberg has repoted.
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