Epic Games announces they have acquired a majority stake in Painkiller developer People Can Fly, revealing that the Polish studio has been working with them on the upcoming PC edition of Gears of War:

Warsaw, Poland 20-Aug-2007. Epic Games today announced that it has acquired a majority interest in Warsaw, Poland-based game developer People Can Fly. People Can Fly (“PCF”) is best known for creating the hit PC game, Painkiller, but most recently has been collaborating with Epic on the PC version of Gears of War®. In addition the two companies are collaborating on a new intellectual property which Epic will be previewing privately to publishers at Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany this week.

The relationship began last year when People Can Fly was evaluating Unreal® Engine 3 to use for a new multi-platform game project. “PCF showed us their early prototypes within only a few weeks and we were totally blown away,” said Mark Rein, Vice President, Epic Games, Inc. “The quality of their work was extremely high, and knew we had to find a way to work more closely with them in the future.” Epic hired PCF to work on the PC version of Gears of War, and collaborated with them on design of a new IP.

“Working with this team of guys who love making over-the-top shooters was a blast, and we didn’t want it to end,” said Dr. Michael Capps, President of Epic Games. “And their work was outstanding. The multiplayer levels they created for Gears PC look as good or better than the original. How could we not jump at the opportunity to work together on a long-term basis?”.

“We are very excited to be working with Epic Games” said Adrian Chmielarz, Creative Director and Co-Owner of People Can Fly. “To be able to work with the best technology company in the business and collaborate on making amazing fantastic games is an offer you just can’t refuse. Making games is hard work but it is also great fun. Working with Epic reduces the stress of being an independent developer and lets us focus even more on fun side of the business.”