‘Total War’ developer Creative Assembly opens Newcastle studio

Creative Assembly, the developer behind Alien: Isolation and the Total War series, has opened up a new studio based in Newcastle.

Announced today (March 16), the Newcastle-based studio has been named Creative Assembly North.

Creative Assembly North is the company’s third studio and its second in the UK, joining a Sussex-based headquarters and studio in Bulgaria.

The studio plans to recruit roughly 100 developers in technical and creative roles, and will be managed by studio director Giselle Stewart OBE — who formerly led Reflections, Ubisoft‘s own studio in Newcastle.

“Starting a new development studio from scratch with the full support and insights of one of the UK’s oldest and largest studios is incredibly exciting,” shared Stewart in a blog published by Creative Assembly. “We are embracing flexibility, fast iteration, and creation, while fostering cross-location collaboration.”

We are delighted to announce a new development studio, Creative Assembly North.

Based in Newcastle, UK, CA North is working collaboratively with our Sussex team on an unannounced project and is home to our newly formed Continuous Improvement Team.https://t.co/EvsMOJ3U6V pic.twitter.com/IGKMI3hQdV

— Creative Assembly (@CAGames) March 16, 2023

Creative Assembly North is currently working on an unannounced project, which is in its early prototyping phase.

On the decision to locate its next studio in Newcastle, Tim Heaton – chief studio officer at parent company Sega – said the city “has a burgeoning reputation as a technology hub and it’s a wonderful opportunity for the studio to add to its talent pool while helping to stimulate sector growth in the region”.

Gareth Edmonson, studio director at Creative Assembly, added that Newcastle is “one of the biggest cities for gaming in the UK” and said the new studio will “see sustained benefits across all our teams for many years to come”.

Currently, Creative Assembly has a number of unannounced projects in the works. The company is currently hiring to create a “brand new” Total War game, while it’s possible the studio is also developing an action game set in the Warhammer universe.

Earlier in the week, Creative Assembly revealed Forge Of The Chaos Dwarfs, the first race pack coming to Total War: Warhammer 3.