Chair Entertainment
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| Type | Subsidiary of Epic Games |
|---|---|
| Industry | Interactive entertainment Computer and video games |
| Founded | Utah (2005) |
| Headquarters | Salt Lake City, Utah, USA |
| Key people | Donald Mustard, Founder, Creative Director Geremy Mustard, Founder, Technical Director |
| Products | Games Undertow Shadow Complex Infinity Blade Infinity Blade II |
| Employees | 16 (2012)[1] |
| Parent | Epic Games |
| Website | www.chairentertainmentgroup.com |
ChAIR Entertainment Group is an American video game developer based in Salt Lake City, Utah.
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History [edit]
ChAIR Entertainment Group was formed in 2005 by Advent Rising creators, Donald and Geremy Mustard, CEO Ryan Holmes, and key members from the core design team behind Advent Rising,[2] including Orlando Barrowes, Nathan Trewartha, and Bert Lewis. Soon after, ChAIR licensed the literary rights to its Empire property to best-selling author Orson Scott Card.[3] The novel Empire was published by Tor Books and debuted as a New York Times Best-Seller in November 2006. Card has since released the literary sequel Hidden Empire and committed to writing additional novels for the series. Chair also secured an option with Joel Silver and Warner Bros. for the Empire movie, which is currently in development.[4] Additionally, Chair has retained the rights to produce future video games and comic books based on its Empire property.[5]
ChAIR began production on its first Xbox Live Arcade game, Undertow, in the fall of 2006. Released on November 21, 2007, Undertow is a fast-paced, action-shooter that takes place entirely underwater. Upon release, Undertow won numerous E3 and Editor's Choice awards and was named Xbox Live Arcade Game of the Year by Official Xbox Magazine.
On January 29, 2008, ChAIR announced it had acquired the interactive rights to Orson Scott Card's novel Ender's Game with plans to adapt the best-selling novel as a digitally distributed video game for all viable downloadable platforms.[6][7][8] On May 20, 2008, Chair Entertainment was acquired by Epic Games.[9] On August 19, 2009, Chair released its second game, Shadow Complex, exclusively for Xbox Live Arcade. The game was published by Microsoft Game Studios and won more than 45 Game of the Year and 35 E3 and Editors Choice Awards. The game was released to positive reviews, with a score of 88 out of 100 on Metacritic.com as of July 10, 2010.[10] Shadow Complex featured a story written by famed comic book author Peter David and was based on Chair's Empire property.
On September 1, 2010, Chair's next title, code-named "Project Sword," was announced at the Apple Fall Event 2010.[11] The game, Infinity Blade, a swordfighting title playable on iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad, was released December 2010, and is the first game on Apple mobile devices powered by Unreal Engine 3. It utilizes Apple's new GameCenter online gaming service. A tech demo for UE3, entitled "Epic Citadel" was released on iTunes the same day as a free download (though it was created by Epic Games, not Chair).
In October 2010, Chair relocated from Provo, Utah to Salt Lake City, Utah.
On December 14, 2010, Chair Entertainment announced they had ceased development on the video game version of Ender's Game.[12]
During the Apple Fall Event 2011, Infinity Blade II was announced, with new features and visuals which took advantage of the next generation of iOS hardware (the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S). The game was released on December 1, 2011.
On January 5, 2012, Epic Games announced that the Infinity Blade franchise had generated over $23 million in revenue.[13]
Games [edit]
- Undertow
- Shadow Complex
- Infinity Blade
- Infinity Blade II
- Vote: The Game
Books [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ Kietzmann, Ludwig. "Epic's Mark Rein on UE4, Epic Baltimore and Gears of War: Judgment".
- ^ "Chair Entertainment". Retrieved 2008-01-29. Text " About Chair " ignored (help)
- ^ "Chair Entertainment Projects Page". 2006-06-27.
- ^ "Joel Silver builds 'Empire' with Chair". 2006-11-13.
- ^ "MTV News Feature on Chair". 2007-08-05.
- ^ "Newsweek Exclusive: Chair Entertainment Reveals Plans for 'Ender's Game' Video Games". Archived from the original on 2008-01-31. Retrieved 2008-01-29.
- ^ "Press Release: Chair Entertainment Acquires Interactive Rights for Ender's Game". 2008-01-29. Retrieved 2008-01-29.
- ^ "Exclusive Interview: Chair Entertainment's Donald and Geremy Mustard Shed Some Light On 'Ender's Game'". Archived from the original on 2008-01-31. Retrieved 2008-01-29.
- ^ Brandon Boyer (2008-05-20). "Epic Games Acquires Undertow Developer Chair". GamaSutra. Retrieved 2008-05-20.
- ^ "Metacritic Page for Shadow Complex". Retrieved 2008-08-22.
- ^ "Project Sword Announcement". Retrieved 2010-09-01.
- ^ "Chair Puts Ender's Game On Hold". 2010-12-14.
- ^ "Infinity Blade franchise grosses over $30 million". 2012-01-05.
External links [edit]
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