2K Established Small Axe Studios—Studio Might Develop a New Big-Budget Football Simulator Title

Rumors have been circulating for a while that 2K might soon develop its own football simulator to compete with Electronic Arts and its EA Sports series. And according to the latest reports, it seems they have taken another step towards this goal, as the company finally launched the studio, and its staff worked on multiple FIFA installments in the past.

2K has confirmed the establishment of Small Axe Studios, which will be responsible for developing a major sports franchise. Although it has not been explicitly stated that this will be a football game, the studio’s logo—designed in the style of a football club crest—and its staff suggest as much. For example, Aaron McHardy, Vice President and Executive Producer at Small Axe Studios, previously held the position of Executive Producer at Electronic Arts Vancouver—the studio directly responsible for developing the FIFA games and currently working on EA Sports FC 27. Furthermore, Gary Paterson has been appointed Head of Design; he has worked on several EA Sports titles, including FIFA, FIFA Manager, and FIFA Street—and that is by no means the full list.

2K have announced their new studio Small Axe Studios which was 2K Sports Lab, likely developing their new AAA football game.

Although there were reports this summer that talks between 2K and FIFA regarding the development of a football simulator had allegedly broken down, the news about Small Axe Studios seems to completely disprove this. It will be interesting to see how 2K’s football simulator will differ from EA Sports FC and whether we will finally see some healthy competition between the two major titles.

As for EA Sports FC and Electronic Arts, the latest installment in the series is set to release on September 25 (PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Switch, and Switch 2). The studio has confirmed that EA Sports FC 27 will feature a host of gameplay innovations, including ‘Career’ mode and Ultimate Team, and will also introduce, for the first time in the franchise’s history, a fully open-world mode called The Grounds. Last week it also emerged that Electronic Arts has changed hands —the company is now owned by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners.