Creative Assembly has announced the establishment of a new studio based in Newcastle. This will be the third studio for the Sega-owned developer of "Total War" and "Alien: Isolation," after Sussex, England and Sofia, Bulgaria. The new studio will be called Creative Assembly North, or CA North, and will initially have a flexible team working on unannounced projects alongside CA's main studio in Sussex.

The Newcastle studio will be headed by industry veteran Giselle Stewart, who was in charge of Reflections at Ubisoft, the developer of the Driver series, The Crew, and Grow Home/Grow Up. Giselle Stewart said, "It's very exciting to be starting a new development studio from scratch with the full support and insight of Ubisoft, one of the oldest and largest studios in the UK. We encourage collaboration across locations while embracing flexibility, rapid iteration, and creativity," Stewart said in a statement.

Creative Assembly plans to add about 100 new developers in both creative and technical positions in the near future, including a new project that has not yet been announced; according to CA, the project is in its "early prototype stage" and is being developed in a fast, iterative manner. The new studio will also house a team of developers dedicated to "continuous improvement," which, according to CA, means "working together across Creative Assembly with the goal of continuously improving tools, workflow, and the development experience."

Creative Assembly is now part of Sega and has enjoyed a decade of strong growth, with games like "Alien: Isolation" and the "Total War: Warhammer" trilogy enjoying great success. Currently, the company is working on expansions for Total War: Warhammer, including the recently announced "Forge of the Chaos Dwarfs" (opens in new tab) and the multiplayer shooter "Hyenas" (opens in new tab).

"Creative Assembly North is establishing us in one of the largest gaming cities in the UK. Gareth Edmondson, Studio Director of Creative Assembly, said, "As well as bringing more great talent to our projects, the creation of a new continuous improvement team will bring lasting benefits to all our teams for years to come and will allow our employees will contribute to a continuously improved development experience for our employees.