Ex-Rare devs create Starfire Studios

In February this year, Microsoft Studios subsidiary Rare was hit with a spate of staff layoffs, despite the good performance of the studio's previous title, Kinect Sports.

Four ex-Rare developers have now teamed up to create Starfire Studios. The team consists of programmer Mark Edmonds, designer Chris Tilston, and artists Ross Bury and Phil Dunne, who have collectively previously worked on the Killer Instinct franchise, the Perfect Dark franchise, and the Halo franchise.

The team, based in Leicestershire, UK, is already working on its first offering, a twin-stick space shooter with massively multiplayer online elements, titled Fusion: Genesis.

The game, which features a single-player component, as well as co-op missions and PVP, will put players in control of a lone spaceship that must join a faction to survive. There are six storylines in total and more than one hundred single-player and co-op missions that include escorting imperial convoys, defending home bases from invading fleets, infiltrating enemy lines, or mining for rare minerals.

Fusion: Genesis will be released on Xbox Live Arcade.