- CI Games has officially branded its internal studio behind the hit Sniper Ghost Warrior (SGW) series: 'Underdog Studio'. The new name arrives following CI Games' most successful year to date, which included the release of Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2, the fifth entry in the popular series. Eleven years since the inaugural game's release, the series shows no signs of abating, with the latest entry significantly outselling its predecessor - 170 percent digital sales uplift in the first 10 days - and receiving the highest review scores to date.

As a modestly sized team, absolutely committed to the improvement of its long-running franchise, CI Games felt it time that the internal studio's achievements be represented with a name befitting its determination. Over the last eleven years, the development team has been primarily focused on improving the SGW franchise so that one day it might compete with FPS titles from much larger studios and were incredibly humbled by the strong reception to SGW Contracts 2.

The Underdog Studio team is currently made up of 50 people, of which 68 percent work from the CI Games headquarters in Warsaw, Poland. Passionate about the SGW franchise, the developers have dedicated themselves to consistently refining the celebrated sniper experience, an example of which being the introduction of 1000m+ extreme-range shooting - a long requested feature from the community.

Since the franchise's initial release, the series has earned consistently increasing Metacritic scores; every new entry has outperformed the last, with the latest receiving an average score of 81 for the PlayStation 5 edition of the game, and a user score of 84 percent on Steam for its PC version.

"We chose the name Underdog Studio as we felt it perfectly encapsulated the plucky spirit and hardworking attitude of the development team," said Kenton Fletcher - Lead Creative Producer, Underdog Studio.

"We are not the biggest team around but we're a group that is packed with talent and creativity, and we work extremely hard to produce titles that punch well above our weight. We're incredibly excited to open this new chapter in the studio's history and look forward to achieving even higher standards of quality in our forthcoming titles," said Fletcher.

The new name also marks an ongoing evolution of the studio, which plans to further internationalize to gain access to the very best, diverse talents across Europe, thanks to its highly successful remote working model, while continuing to expand its network of external development partners around the world. The Underdog Studio team is currently working hard to further improve its fan-favourite sniper experience, and looks forward to sharing further details in the future.

About Underdog Studio

Part of the CI Games family, Underdog Studio is the internal development team responsible for the highly successful and long running Sniper Ghost Warrior series. With a name that encapsulates the determination and hard working attitude of the 50-strong crew, the team is mainly spread across Europe, with a headquarters in Warsaw, Poland. As the SGW franchise continues to go from strength to strength with each new iteration, the Underdog team looks forward to achieving even higher standards of quality in their upcoming titles. For more information about Underdog Studio, please visit www.underdogstudio.net.