Sony have today announced a new member to the ever expanding Worldwide Studios family. Middlesbrough-based dev team Double Eleven, who are currently working on the PlayStation Vita version of LittlebigPlanet, will now work exclusively for Sony Computer Entertainment across various PlayStation Platforms. Double Eleven haven’t been around that long, having only been set up in 2010 by ex-members of Rockstar Leeds.

As part of the announcement, Lee Hutchinson, Double Eleven CEO was quoted as saying “The opportunity to work so closely with Sony is simply fantastic and we look forward to a truly exciting new phase in our own development, with the absolute intention to become a world-class studio.” Michael Denny, Senior Vice President for SCE Worldwide Studios Europe added “Double Eleven are one of the most exciting developers to emerge onto the development scene in recent years, their technical expertise makes them a great fit for LittleBigPlanet on PSVITA and we’ve very pleased with the progress the team have made on this hugely anticipated title”

In a year that has seen many UK based development studios shut down, it’s nice to see Sony invest in UK talent. And they’re in great company, joining the likes of Naughty Dog, Media Molecule, and Guerilla Games to name but a few. They also join fellow handheld development studio Novarama Technology, who are behind PSP Augmented Reality monster battler – Invizimals and upcoming Vita AR beat-um up Reality Fighter. Which shows that by actively seeking to expand handheld specialist into WWS, Sony mean business when it comes to 1st party involvement in PlayStation Vita game development.

Source: SCEE PressVault