Expression Games, the studio behind the Hell Let Loose franchise and co-developer on Star Wars Galactic Racer, will open its first physical studio in Manchester, ending a fully remote operating model.

The studio confirmed the expansion publicly. CEO Errol Ismail said the Manchester opening responds to "what's happening in the talent market" and addresses "the requirements of both its staff and its co-development clients."

The Manchester move marks the first structural change of this scale for Expression. The team has shipped and continues to operate Hell Let Loose — the 100-player World War II tactical shooter that launched in 2021 — without a central headquarters, relying entirely on distributed workflows.

What does a physical studio change?

For a remote-first team, committing to a permanent site reshapes three operational levers: hiring, production cadence, and client-facing logistics.

Hiring scope shifts once a studio plants a flag in a specific city. Manchester sits inside one of the UK's densest clusters of games-relevant higher education, with annual cohorts from the University of Salford, Manchester Metropolitan, and the University of Manchester producing graduates in game design, programming, and digital art.

Studios opening there typically convert that pipeline into junior hires. Remote-only operations have historically found that category harder to integrate.

Production cadence tends to tighten when motion-capture, casting, audio recording, or live ops planning benefits from shared physical space.

Hell Let Loose, as a long-running live service title, requires continual iteration on balance, matchmaking, anti-cheat tuning, and seasonal content. Those cycles gain speed when core staff share a room.

Client-facing logistics matter most for the Star Wars Galactic Racer arrangement. Co-development deals with a lead publisher typically involve regular on-site integration sessions, asset reviews, and milestone demos.

A permanent Manchester base gives Expression a fixed venue for those reviews. It also reduces travel overhead for both the studio and its partners.

Why Manchester, and why now?

Manchester has absorbed a steady share of UK studio relocations and expansions over the past several years. Operating costs run lower than London, the university pipelines are established, and several large publishers now maintain northern offices in or near the city.

The talent-market pressure Ismail referenced tracks with reports from the past 18 months describing a narrower hiring environment for mid-level engineering and art roles. Senior candidates in that market frequently hold multiple competing offers.

A physical office gives studios a tangible lever in compensation negotiations where remote-only packages are losing ground.

The shift also gives Expression a hiring differentiator over fully remote competitors. Candidates evaluating two similar offers in a tightened market increasingly weigh office access, equipment, and day-to-day collaboration as part of total compensation — particularly at junior and mid levels where relocation is feasible.

What to watch

Four signals will indicate whether the Manchester bet is paying off:

• The number of roles Expression opens at the new site over the next two quarters
• Any acceleration in the Hell Let Loose content roadmap following the move
• Whether the Manchester presence translates into additional co-development contracts beyond Star Wars Galactic Racer
• Studio decisions on hybrid versus in-office attendance policies, which will signal how strictly the physical site functions as a hiring tool

The studio has not disclosed headcount targets, an opening date, or lease terms for the Manchester location. Those details are expected in subsequent communications as Expression moves into its first permanent workspace.