Sumo opens second studio in Canada

The Sumo Group has announced the opening of a new studio called Timbre Games, based in Vancouver, Canada.

The studio will be part of Pipeworks Studios, which Sumo acquired for $100 million back in September last year. It will focus on action-adventure and simulation genres.

Timbre will be Sumo’s second office in Canada, and its 14th studio worldwide. It’ll be headed by co-founder Joe Nickolls, former vice president of EA Vancouver, having previously been VP and general manager at Maxis and studio director at Capcom Vancouver.

Nickolls will work alongside co-founder Zoë Curnoe as studio production director. She previously worked for over seven years at The Coalition Studio as production director.

The third co-founder is Geoff Coates, who will be creative director, having previously been art director at the likes of Relic Entertainment, Capcom and EA.

Nickolls commented: “With Timbre, we wanted to build a studio from the ground up with a focus on diversity, transparency, community involvement in game development, and a sustainable, fun workplace culture. Those priorities are shared by Pipeworks so it was a natural fit from the start.”