The co-founders of Batman: Arkham developer Rocksteady have quietly set up a new triple-A studio: Hundred Star Games.
In what could be described as a thought-provoking timing, it’s been revealed that the co-founders of Rocksteady – Sefton Hill and Jamie Walker – have created a new studio called Hundred Star Games.
As you can see on its website – spotted by Eurogamer – Hundred Star is based in London, will eventually have 100 members of staff (hence the name) and will focus on developing triple-A games. In other words, the sort of experiences that made Rocksteady such a respected studio.
Walker and Hill first set up Rocksteady Studios in 2004, and while its debut title didn’t make much of a splash – 2006’s Urban Chaos: Riot Response – the developer really got the world’s attention with 2009’s Batman: Arkham Asylum, an exhilarating action-adventure made with far more care and creative verve than typically expected from a licenced game.
Arkham Asylum began a long and fruitful partnership with publisher Warner Bros Games – the latter acquired Rocksteady in 2010, and three further Batman games followed – Batman: Arkham City in 2011, Batman: Arkham Knight in 2015, and Batman: Arkham VR the following year.
Rocksteady then began working on Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League (and not a Superman game, as was once rumoured), a live-service co-op action experience that would keep the studio busy for seven years. It was in 2022, as that game was said to be ‘nearly finished’ that Hill and Walker announced they were leaving Rocksteady to “begin a new adventure in gaming.”
That Suicide Squad game was later delayed until 2024.
It’s unclear whether the founding of the new studio so close to the release of Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League – it’s out on the 2nd February – is a coincidence or not. It’s worth pointing out, though, that no formal announcement has been made as yet – the studio’s connection to Hill and Walker was only discovered thanks to some digging done by Polygon. The new venture has already enticed over 25 employees according to Eurogamer, though, with several of them being “lead developers and director-level ex-Rocksteady employees.”
Will Hundred Star Games’ debut be an original property or something licenced, like those Batman games? We’ll keep you posted as we hear more.
