Splash Damage Captures Bigger Headquarters, Promptly Creates Spawnhost

After nearly five years in our offices, we’ve just moved to a building of our own for the very first time in the studio’s history. The industry has changed a lot in the past couple of years, with digital distribution becoming commonplace and games being run as a service that runs for several years, with sweeping updates throughout their lifetime.

With our new building, we’re able to create a space that’ll let us take full advantage of where the games industry is going, with dedicated areas for development, live ops, and support. There’s also a whole bunch of meeting, gaming, and quiet areas, and we’ve still got a ton of extra room for the future (hello, community days!).

To celebrate our new home, we thought we’d take a look back at the illustrious gang of buildings we’ve occupied over the years. Photos ahead:

Eden Park Avenue

Believe it or not, Splash Damage literally started out in CEO Paul Wedgwood’s front room. Eden Park saw much Q3F-related action with its famed devathons, as well as the transition from mod team to development studio when Locki, Fluffy_gIMp, and RR2DO2 officially started the company as a full-time gig.

And look, everyone was young and beautiful!

Ironstone House

Soon after becoming a ‘real’ games company, it was time for the team to move into a proper, serviced office space. Enter Ironstone House in Beckenham.

This office is largely remembered for its above-pub-ness as well as the complete and utter lack of air conditioning, which turned even Britains modest summers into a game of Russian Equipment Roulette. On the upside, the pub’s napkins often served as an impromptu birthplace for new maps, and it was there that community favourite mp_marketgarden came into being.

But with the team growing bigger and new projects Doom III and Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars looming, it was once again time to move.

Elmfield Road

Splash Damage’s next stop was Elmfield Road in Bromley. This office’s standout feature was being located right above Bromley’s Conservative Club, which made for an interesting mix of FPS multiplayer gaming and actual, factual war veterans (who, for the record, were completely okay with our produce). Much to everyone’s relief, this was also the first office with air conditioning – until a Nerf dart got stuck in it, anyway.

Having finished Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars in late 2007, our eyes turned to Brink, the studio’s first multi-platform title. Having already taken over all available corners of the building, Splash Damage’s overlords set about finding the next new home for the studio.

A bit further up on Elmfield Road

After scouring office spaces near and far, we stumbled across a space just up the road from our home above the Conservative Club. Better yet, we’d be the first occupants and so would be able to design the space and kit it out out according to our needs.

With a larger break-out room, a dedicated gaming area, several meeting spaces, a large board room, and a dedicated development floor, this office saw the creation and development of Brink, RAD Soldiers, and Batman: Arkham Origins. We finally turned off the lights at Elmfield Road this past weekend, calling time on an era that saw a frightening number of fire alarms (none of them real, luckily) and the ever-present, soothing ambience of Poundland’s eccentric customers just below our studio.

Hope you enjoyed this quick trip down memory lane. We’ll have plenty more pictures of our new offices to share soon – keep an eye on our Facebook and Flickr outposts for that.