A group of key staff from the Silicon Dreams development studio, which was shut down last month, have formed a new company - Gusto Games - which will focus on developing online, community-driven titles.

The new studio is made up of 11 staff members from Silicon Dreams, most of whom worked in the core technology group or as lead gameplay programmers, and all of whom had worked at the company for in excess of eight years.

Fred Gill is managing director of the new studio, which is moving into new premises in the Oxfordshire town of Banbury this weekend. "I know that we have a dedicated, experienced and proven group of talented individuals, with a track record of delivering games on time," he says of the new studio.

Gill says that the company is committed to providing games with strong online and community building features, and believes that this approach is the future for both current and next-generation platforms. He also highlights the company's experience with football titles - many of the core Gusto Games team worked on Silicon Dreams' football games, which range from Fever Pitch on the SNES up to Michael Owen's World League Soccer on PSX and N64 and the UEFA Champions League franchise on PC, PSX and PS2.

GamesIndustry.biz