Metro: Last Light Studio Moves Headquarters Out Of Ukraine

[Andy Chalk]

Metro: Last Light Studio Moves Headquarters Out Of Ukraine

4A Games is relocating its headquarters from Ukraine to Malta as it continues to work on new projects in the Metro universe.

4A Games, the developer of Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light, has announced an expansion of its operations to Malta, which will actually become the studio's new headquarters. The studio in Kiev, Ukraine will continue to operate but "key members," including co-founder and Creative Director Andrew Prokhorov and Chief Technical Officer Oles Shishkovstov, will relocate to the Malta office.

"This marks the start of a new chapter for 4A Games," Prokhorov said. "We are proud of our achievements as a young studio, and humbled by the response to our output so far. The team is looking forward to this new adventure."

Moving to a nation in the European Union will enable the studio to "better compete on the international stage," CEO and Head of Business Development Dean Sharpe said. "Malta offers fantastic incentives for game development, and we are confident 4A Games will be able to attract the very best talent from Ukraine, Malta and beyond"

But it's impossible to view the move without seeing it in the context of the ongoing turmoil in Ukraine, which is currently wracked by violence as it deals with armed separatist groups and Russian military incursions. Red Buzz [http://red-buzz.com/2014/04/russian-and-ukrainian-game-developers-are-starting-to-leave-their-countries-in-midst-of-political-crisis/], a site that follows the Russian game development scene, said back in April that Russian and Ukrainian game studios were beginning to give serious thought to moving abroad to escape the instability and cited Malta as one likely destination for Ukrainian teams.

Despite the upheaval, 4A Games also reaffirmed its commitment to the future of the Metro series, saying it "continues to work on un-announced titles within the Metro universe as well as further, un-announced projects, powered by their cutting edge proprietary tech, the 4A Engine."

Source: 4A Games [http://www.4a-games.com/pressrelease_2014-05-12.html]


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[Aerosteam]

Malta is actually a pretty great country! (Taking word from my former geography teacher and his pictures when he was there.)

Although I assume anywhere is better than their previous location... having to continue work on laptops because of having tons of power outages in their office... *shudders*

 

[Li Mu]

Nicer weather for sure. I hope we can keep this thread devoid of any hatred directed towards any Slavic nationalities.

 

[SirAroun]

Malta: Home of the Knights Hospitaller

 

[J Tyran]

After all the challenges [http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-05-15-jason-rubin-metro-last-light-is-the-triumph-of-an-underdog] they faced during the development of the previous Metro games and the possibility of a war breaking out in the Ukraine you can easily see why they want to move, it must be hard having to move out your country like that and for those reasons.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

Happy to hear that they managed to get out of Ukraine..that place is rather hostile right about now.

Ukraine is very close to where I live (right "next door") so to speak so I hope this won't escalate further. Russians have a tendency to be very vocal and stubborn.

 

[CriticalMiss]

You can't really blame them for getting out before Ukraine becomes part of the Soviet Two-nion. Although it's interesting that they are leaving some folks behind rather than moving the whole operation, maybe that willcome later once they have settled in.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

You can't really blame them for getting out before Ukraine becomes part of the Soviet Two-nion. Although it's interesting that they are leaving some folks behind rather than moving the whole operation, maybe that willcome later once they have settled in.

I thought that too, but it might be possible that those people don't want to leave. I suppose it could also be that the company just can't afford to pack up everyone and move them all at once.
Either way, if I was in Ukraine, I would be packing up my stuff too. Actually, I probably would have already packed up my stuff. What's happening there is terrifying.

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

yeah they better do that before putin tries to "liberate" their studio

 

[Shiftygiant]

I understand that their is probably a tax break or something by working from Malta, but at least the risk of artillery accidentally hitting the dev team won't be an issue.

 

[Ferisar]

You can't really blame them for getting out before Ukraine becomes part of the Soviet Two-nion. Although it's interesting that they are leaving some folks behind rather than moving the whole operation, maybe that willcome later once they have settled in.

I assume it's a logistical problem given these people are with families and have family in the country. It's a lot easier to imagine doing this when you aren't settled down, although the studio's previous trouble in their development probably helps in making this decision just the same.

Either way, best of luck to them. Hopefully those who stay behind aren't going to get screwed over by what's going on.

 

[Erttheking]

Well, from what I've been hearing about the mess over there, I can't really blame them from wanting to get away from a powder keg ready to go off. I eagerly await your next game guys! Metro or otherwise!

 

[Dragonlayer]

Wouldn't it be more sensible for them to hole up inside a subway station with enough tinned food and cabaret dancers to last the troubles in the Ukraine?

 

[Skeleon]

Malta is a great place if you like arid, almost desert-like islands (and I do) and sandstone fortresses and the like (and I do). Lot of history there. Visited it twice and would love to go there again. I didn't know it was supposed to be great for game devs, but I can certainly understand moving into the EU with the current troubles and Malta is a good place. Gozo is also nice (but even smaller) and just a short ferry jaunt over.

 

[RA92]

Wouldn't it be more sensible for them to hole up inside a subway station with enough tinned food and cabaret dancers to last the troubles in the Ukraine?

Don't forget the plenty of bullets they'll need as currency!

 

[Strazdas]

malta is a great place and not one usually picked by dev teams. the only problem i can see with this is that they will get to experience how awesome malta is and thier games will stop being so dark.

 

[whycantijustdeletemyaccount]

.

 

[Rozalia1]

Why wouldn't they want to become Putin's personal game makers? I mean I haven't played a single game they've made but I would totally pick up a game where Emperor Putin attacks the US/Europe and wins (like in his dreams).

 

[Tradjus]

Too bad they got the hell out of there before they were annexed for the glory of Mother Russia!
I'm sure they would have been happy making SUPER PUTIN BRAWLER 5 and CRUSH CAPITALIST PIG DOGS 9 for the Nintendo 64.