Last year Survios released Raw Data into Early Access, a game that continues to remain popular for its fast-paced action and cooperative multiplayer on both Rift and Vive. At GDC 2017 the studio announced their next game, a speed-based obstacle course action game called Sprint Vector. Survios has consistently made headlines for being one of the first studios to reach $1 million in sales with the popularity of Raw Data as well as securing $50M in funding before the end of 2016.
Following that success and growth it was time to make some changes and this week a representative from the studio confirmed to UploadVR over the phone that Survios’ Head of Studio, Chris Hewish, would be departing the company. They provided the following official statement:
“We’re a growing company and as a growing company it’s natural for changes to occur. Chris has made valuable contributions to our team and will be missed. We wish him the best on his future endeavors.
We cannot comment further due to company policy regarding personnel matters.”
Hewish had been with Survios since January of 2016 and helped contribute to the developer’s rapid growth over the past year. He brought years of experience in the game industry with 10 years at Activision and six years at Dreamworks Interactive. While at Survios he was in charge of overseeing much of the studio’s production and development, as well as spearheading high-level negotiations and partnerships.
To get additional information about the move, UploadVR reached out to Hewish directly for a phone interview and he had nothing but kind things to say about the company, its people, and their trajectory moving forward.
“With Survios the truth is it was a great experience,” Hewish explained. “I’ve been in the industry for quite a while and going there really reinvigorated me a bit being around such smart and driven people. The truth is that we are definitely still on friendly terms and it was just time for us as we grew, certainly for me, it was a good time to start looking at other areas I can add value. Nothing negative or anything like that at all.”
Where that next spot will be specifically is still under wraps for now, but we should find out more soon. “Can’t share yet where I am going next, but hopefully in the next week or so,” Hewish elaborated. “There is no lack of faith in VR, I’m still a big believer. We’re in the early days, need lower price points, new hardware cycles, etc. After being with Survios I’ve got new energy for the industry again.”
As it stands Survios is poised to remain one of the top VR development studios to watch in 2017 and wherever Hewish ends up next will surely be worth keeping an eye on as well. We should know more next week about his post-Survios plans.
