Game developer Virtuos has announced the launch of Virtuos Labs Warsaw, a new branch of the company, dedicated to developing graphics that are the "best-in-class". The new studio's aim it to complement the R&D and proprietary game engine developers at Virtuos’ other European studios.

This means that the company has a growing number of studios across Europe, with locations in Lyon, Montpellier, and now Warsaw. Virtuos also launched Calypte last year, a studio based in the bay area of San Francisco.

Growing a team

Rendering lead Peter Sikachev will be in charge of developing graphics engineering capabilities at the new Warsaw studio, bringing more than 12 years’ experience with AAA game graphics programming. He has previously worked as an associate lead graphics programmer with People Can Fly, and has also worked with CD Projekt Red and Eidos-Montréal.

As for Sikachev’s games catalogue, he's played a part in Outriders Worldslayer. Cyberpunk 2077, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

Following the establishment of the new studio, Virtuos is aiming to grow the Warsaw team to 35 members by the end of the year, focusing in particular on hiring engineers to work on AAA projects. And while it is currently unknown as to whether any of these will be mobile games, the wider company does have history with the platform.

"Poland is one of the world’s largest exporters of games and our expansion into Warsaw enables us to meet the increasing demand for engineering solutions," said Virtuos managing director of western region Christophe Gandon,

"Virtuos Labs’ unique set-up empowers experts like Peter to grow their dream teams to work on advanced solutions, while providing clients a cost-effective alternative to maintaining a large, fixed team so they can better adapt to market conditions."

To bolster its Southeast Asian presence, Virtuos also launched a new studio in Kuala Lumpur.