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Bulletstorm Developer People Can Fly Soars Again As Independent Studio
People Can Fly, the studio behind Painkiller, Bulletstorm, and Gears of War Judgment, is now independent once more. The company announced its amicable split from Epic this morning.
In recent years, the team was known as Epic Games Poland, and contributed to a number of projects. In addition to its work on Gears of War, People Can Fly also worked on Infinity Blade III, Unreal Tournament, and the upcoming free-to-play Fortnite.
"We've been honored to work with this brilliant group of programmers, artists and designers throughout their history: first as a partner using the Unreal Engine, then as a studio within Epic, and now once again as an independent company,” says Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney. People Can Fly will continue to work with Epic and will be using Unreal Engine 4 for its new, unannounced project.
We’ve reached out to Epic and People Can Fly for more information about the transition and who holds the Bulletstorm IP after the split. We’ll update should we receive a response.
Update: People Can Fly's Sebastian Wojciechowski clarified the status of the Bulletstorm IP in a response via email. "[The Bulletstorm] IP has been always with PCF so we didn't have to buy it," he says. "PCF owns this IP."
Our Take
As a big Bulletstorm fan, I’m hopeful that this means the franchise gets another shot. Epic is a company in flux right now, as Unreal Engine becomes even more important to the studio. This amicable parting sounds like a good solution for all involved.
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