Guerrila Cambridge, also known as Studio Cambridge prior to 2012, was a British game development studio located in Cambridge, England. It was a first-party studio under Sony Interactive Entertainment and was founded in 1997.
As Studio Cambridge, it was formed from Sony's acquisition of CyberLife Technology's game division, and worked on developing games for Sony's line of PlayStation consoles. It was best known for the creation of the MediEvil horror-themed action-adventure game series, as well as 2009's PlayStation Portable title LittleBigPlanet. In addition to in-house game development, Cambridge Studio provided support on other projects such as the Killzone franchise and Heavenly Sword.
In 2010 the studio was restructured by Sony to act as a sister-studio to Guerrilla Games, Sony's Dutch development studio responsible for Killzone. The studio released two titles under their new label, Killzone: Mercenary to the PlayStation Vita and RIGS: Mechanized Combat League to the PlayStation 4's PlayStation VR headset. Guerrilla Cambridge was shut down in January 2017 as part of Sony's regulatory review process.
During its 20 years of existence, Guerrilla Cambridge drew a varying range of responses for its games. Its work on the MediEvil series and 2009's LittleBigPlanet were met with favorable reviews, though work on other original properties such as C-12: Final Resistance, Primal and Ghosthunter garnered more mixed opinions. As Guerrilla Cambridge, the studio's work on its final two projects was met with positive critical response, particularly for their demonstration of their respective platforms.
History[]
1996 - 1997: Origins[]
CyberLife was a British technology developer that originally went by the name Millennium Interactive. It renamed itself as the development of artificial intelligence and "artificial life" simulations became the company's main business. By 1997, CyberLife was working on two games, Frogger and Beast Wars: Transformers to be published by Hasbro Interactive.
1997 - 2001: Formation and early years[]
On July 15th 1997, Sony Computer Entertainment announced its acquisition of CyberLife's gaming division through its London-based division. The newly established SCE Cambridge Studio integrated members of the bought-out team, while CyberLife would rename itself years later into Creature Labs before ultimately shutting down in 2003.
Between September and December of the same year, SCE Cambridge launched its two Hasbro projects to mixed responses. Both games were also released for Microsoft Windows and Mac.
SCE Cambridge's first project under Sony was MediEvil, which originally began development as a multi-platform project under Cambridge's previous owner Millennium Interactive. The project was eventually shown to Sony, who was impressed by the game's tech demo, signed to fund and publish it as a PlayStation exclusive, and initiated an acquisition process of the future of SCE Cambridge.
Sony's acquisition of SCE Cambridge was completed six months into the publishing deal, which helped easing the team's financial stress. MediEvil was described as a "huge learning project" for SCE Cambridge according to director Chris Sorrell, as the team was inexperienced in 3D games. MediEvil was ultimately released on October 1998, releasing to positive reviews and strong sales, selling at least 400,000 copies in Europe by 1999.
Following the positive response to MediEvil, Sony commissioned SCE Cambridge to follow the game with a sequel. Sony instructed the team to develop the game prior to the end of the PlayStation's lifespan. Development was headed by James Shepherd who took over from Sorrell as the game's director. MediEvil 2 was released to positive reviews similarly to its predecessor, and was awarded BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Award for best console game of 2000.
After the release of MediEvil 2, SCE Cambridge began to focus on other projects. Their first game outside the series was 2001's C-12: Final Resistance. Final Resistance received mixed reviews and was unfavorably compared to SCE Bend's Syphon Filter.
2001 - 2010: Later projects[]
2010 - 2016: Restructure under Guerrilla[]
2016 - 2017: Closure[]
Relationship with other studios[]
Ninja Theory[]
Guerrilla Games[]
Games[]
Primary developer[]
| Game title | Release | Platform | Additional notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| MediEvil | 1998 | PlayStation | n / a |
| MediEvil 2 | 1999 | PlayStation | n / a |
| C-12: Final Resistance | 2000 | PlayStation | n / a |
| Primal | 2003 | PlayStation 2 | n / a |
| Ghosthunter | 2003 | PlayStation 2 | n / a |
| MediEvil: Resurrection | 2005 | PlayStation Portable | n / a |
| 24: The Game | 2006 | PlayStation 2 | n / a |
| LittleBigPlanet PSP | 2009 | PlayStation Portable | n / a |
| TV Superstars | 2012 | PlayStation 3 | n / a |
| Killzone: Mercenary | 2013 | PlayStation Vita | n / a |
| RIGS: Mechanized Combat League | 2016 | PlayStation 4 (PlayStation VR) | n / a |
Secondary roles[]
| Game title | Release | Platform | Additional notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Formula One Championship Edition | 2006 | PlayStation 3 | Additional support; developed by Studio Liverpool |
| Heavenly Sword | 2007 | PlayStation 3 | Additional support; developed by Ninja Theory |
| Killzone 2 | 2009 | PlayStation 3 | Additional support; developed by Guerrilla Games |
| Killzone 3 | 2011 | PlayStation 3 | Additional support; developed by Guerrilla Games |
Cancelled projects[]
| Game title | Platform | Genre | Additional notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heavenly Sword 2 | PlayStation 3 | Action-adventure, hack and slash | [1] |
References[]
| Guerrilla Cambridge |
|---|
| Sony Interactive Entertainment - PlayStation Studios Guerrilla Games MediEvil
Technology: Decima |