Sporty Group, a global sports and betting company, has announced the launch of a new UK studio to be led by Sensible Soccer's Jon Hare.
This appears to be a successor to the London-based company Tower Studios, which Hare co-founded back in 2004 and that is no doubt best known for being the developer of the Sensible Soccer successor Sociable Soccer.
Sporty Group acquired Tower Studios back in April 2024, along with the Sociable Soccer IP, with Hare continuing to lead development on Sociable Soccer after the acquisition.
According to the announcement, the UK new studio will be based in Bournemouth and will see Hare being joined by a team of 17 talented developers — all of whom are apparently in the "latter stages of development of an as-yet-unannounced free-to-play soccer game, which will be launched later this year."
Referring to the launch of this new studio, Hare seemed confident in a press statement that this collaboration with Sporty Group would enable the company to have a future "as a top-tier developer and publisher of sports games". This is particularly significant as, in the past, Hare has been rather open about the difficulties of competing for space in a realm dominated by larger video game developers, such as the mighty EA.
He also went on to talk about the quality of the talent working at this new venture and referred to some recent award wins and nominations (such as Debug Magazine shortlisting Sociable Soccer 25 for Best UK Indie Game 2025):
"We have put together a capable and driven team and continue to look for new additions - our recent burst of awards and nominations is testament to the quality that this strength is giving us. Working with such a highly talented group of like-minded developers who, like myself, are committed to raising the bar for sports games, is a dream come true and we look forward to sharing further details of our first titles very soon.”
Sporty Group's VP of business development, marketing & media, Greg Parsons meanwhile commented about the news:
“Jon and his team have a proven track record of creating critically acclaimed titles with universal appeal. Adding this talent to the existing Sporty talent pool will accelerate the growth of our games offerings and enhance our vision of a globally relevant and diversified entertainment destination. We’re excited to share further news in the months ahead.”