Video game studio Starlight Games founded by Psygnosis and Sony veterans aims to help young people into industry

A new video games studio is being opened in Liverpool by veterans of famous names Psygnosis and Sony - and says its mission is to help young talent into the industry.

Bosses at the new Starlight Games say it has been launched to “discover young new talent and give them hands-on experience in the videogame industry”.

Liverpool has a long history in video gaming, thanks to companies including Psygnosis, later Sony’s Liverpool studio, which developed games including the world-famous WipEout series.

Starlight is led by Gary Nichols, formerly from Psygnosis. Its management team includes Nick Burcombe, co-creator of WipEout, alongside Andy Santos, who co-created Skate and directed a game in the Resident Evil franchise. They will be joined by Ben Cronin who was a founding team member at Gamesys, the company behind online bingo giant Jackpotjoy.

The new business's first game will be House of Golf 2, which will be released in summer for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.

It said: “The company has a mission to create the best experiences using the power of (games development platform) Unreal Engine 5 with a focus on nurturing young talent from the local community with the aim to fuel the next generation of game developers and innovate in gameplay mechanics.”

House of Golf 2 is inspired by mini golf and includes 100 courses. Starlight said many of its challenges have been “designed by one of the company’s young and passionate game designers who joined the studio after graduating from a local university”.

Starlight is also working on “an exciting futuristic sports title”, directed by Nick Burcombe, and on another “strategy sci-fi rogue-lite action experience”. It is also developing Fortnite experiences including Jungle Jam, which will launch at the end of this month.

Mr Nichols, said: “Our vision is to foster a creative ecosystem where talent can flourish and dreams can be turned into reality.

“We want to provide the platform and resources for young talent to thrive and leave a lasting impact on the industry."

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