By Rob Crossley
Speculation that a new Crackdown game is in development was triggered last night following the all-but-official arrival of Scottish developer Ruffian Games.
The Ruffian team is comprised of key members of the original Crackdown development group. A Flickr slideshow, unearthed by ScottishGames.biz, shows members of the new Ruffian staff perusing potential office space across Dundee, Scotland.
Xen Group's Gaz Liddon can be seen in several pictures of the group seeking their new headquarters. Liddon’s Xen Group provided Microsoft Game Studios in 2005-06 a team of 15 to provide “core technology for rendering and physics, artwork, design and managerial resources”.
Along with Liddon, Crackdown lead designer Billy Thomson has been speculated as one of the new founders of the Ruffian team.
Realtime Worlds will not be working on the next Crackdown, due to commitments with its upcoming APB. Microsoft Game Studios previously acquired the IP, but have yet confirmed the game is in development.
A Microsoft spokesperson was unavailable at the time of writing.
Realtime Worlds declined to comment.
