Cyber Group receives Epic grant

Giganto Club will be spun off from Cyber Group’s Gigantosaurus

France’s Cyber Group Studios has received a grant it will use to accelerate its push into immersive entertainment, interactive games and virtual production in a new studio.

A spokeswoman for Cyber Group told C21 the grant, from US-based video game company Epic Games, is worth “hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

The Paris- and LA-based producer and distributor is currently preparing to open a new studio, due to be fully operational by the end of March, in Roubaix, France.

The new production facility will be managed by Stéphanie Baclet, who currently oversees the 2D and CG animation studio Cyber Group opened in Roubaix in 2018.

This 11,000 sq ft facility will make use of Epic Games’ Unreal Engine real-time rendering and motion-capture technology.

This speeds up the animation process and allows for shortform, video game and interactive content to be produced simultaneously.

The first series to be produced at the new studio will be Giganto Club (52×11′), a spin-off to Cyber Group’s Gigantosaurus series. Animated using motion-capture technology, it will be hosted by real-time animated dinosaurs and feature games, songs and themed segments.

Pierre Sissmann, chairman and CEO of Cyber Group Studios, said: “We decided to create this advanced virtual production studio in Hauts-de-France as the region is developing as a centre of production excellence, gathering a few leading industry players and among the best animation and video game schools in the world.”

Olivier Lelardoux, senior VP, studio and associate producer at Cyber Group Studios, added: “Gathering most of the animation tasks directly in Unreal Engine enables us to produce high-quality content for any digital platform, such as YouTube, and optimise the quality and budget of a traditional series.”