Sony Confirms New UK Studio Working on "High Quality Morpheus Games"

Sony has established a new UK studio to focus on development for its upcoming PlayStation 4 virtual reality headset Project Morpheus, the corporation has confirmed to GameSpot.

A number of job postings for what Sony is calling its North West Studio appeared on the Sony Computer Entertainment careers page on Tuesday. The corporation has since explained to GameSpot that the team will include staff from Motorstorm and Driveclub developer Evolution Studios, who will work on "high quality experiences" for the VR headset.

"We are dedicated to producing high quality experiences for Project Morpheus, and the creation of this studio allows us to build a small but highly experienced team who can utilise their skills to showcase this exciting new immersive technology," said a Sony spokesperson.

"We always look to relocate staff throughout the studios, and this is no exception. The new team will be made up of a combination of Evolution staff members and new talent, with a focus on hiring the most highly experienced team possible."

Evolution Studios was previously working on a prototype version of Driveclub for Project Morpheus, which would put players in cockpit view. According to Shuhei Yoshida, PlayStation's president of worldwide studios, the project was halted because it was "kind of difficult and sickening."

In March, Evolution Studios suffered layoffs, amidst assurances from Sony that the studio would provide ongoing support for Driveclub.

A consumer Morpheus model is expected to launch in the first half of 2016. However, Sony has not provided a specific release date as of yet. Yoshida previously told GameSpot that internally developed VR games for Morpheus will be announced at E3 in June.

"We haven't talked about these games as yet. We are waiting for the right time. Starting probably at E3, we will start to show the actual games," he said.

Sony has confirmed its E3 press conference will take place at 6pm Pacific Time on Monday, June 15 (2am Tuesday, UK time). Check out the full E3 2015 press conference schedule for details on the timing of the other seven briefings.