Kuju Expands To Philippines With Studio Acquisition

British developer Kuju Entertainment (Battalion Wars series) announced an expansion into the Asia-Pacific region with the acquisition of Matahari Studios Philippines, an outsourcing services provider. Founded in 1999, the Manila-based company previously operated as a branch for Australia's Matahari Studios (Dino Duel Masters, Super Strike). Its past clients include Electronic Arts, Atari, Sony Online Entertainment, and Kuju. The studio is being rebranded as Kuju Manila and will serve as a "co-operative development relationship with Kuju’s US studio based in Burlingame, California." Eric Marlow, who led the studio for its former Australian owner, serves as Kuju Manila's general manager. Kuju currently operates six studios in addition to Kuju Manila: NiK NaK in Guildford, doublesix in Guildford, Chemistry in Sheffield, Headstrong in London, Zoë Mode in Brighton, and Kuju America in San Francisco, the last of which just opened in January of this year. “The partnership between Kuju’s US studio and Matahari has already shown us that there is a great opportunity to grow our talent pool through co-operative development," says Kuju Group president Jonathan Newth. He continues, "This approach offers significant advantages over out-sourcing and involves the team in Manila working on specific areas of development as an integral part of an overall project’s creation... We will be working with the team in Manila to further expand the range of development skills they can offer to Kuju’s studios."