MCv sister site Develop reports that US games development firm Foundation 9 Entertainment has merged its two South California studios Shiny and The Collective.

The two firms have become a currently unnamed larger entity based at F9E's corporate headquarters in Irvine, California. 'Large-scale games based on big licensed properties' will be the focus of the new studio.

The new studio is to be led by Shiny's current studio manager, Michael Persson, who has worked at Shiny for over 10 years. Persson said the new capacity meant the team was able to develop games for a number of platforms simultaneously, covering "complete sku lines from next-gen to current gen and PSP".

Shiny is currently finishing work on its game based on the His Dark Materials book The Golden Compass, and The Collective is working on the next-gen Silent Hill game. It's not known if the merger is also designed to help support the production of the latter.

"Bringing the Shiny and Collective teams together into one larger studio will give them the scale and resources needed to deliver top-notch franchise-based releases across multiple platforms," added David Mann, F9E's COO. "We've already moved everyone under one roof, which will help to make a seamless transition for both teams."