Starbreeze Studios
| File:Starbreeze logo.png | |
| Company type | Public company |
|---|---|
| First North: STAR | |
| Industry | Computer and video games |
| Founded | 1998 (as O3 Games) 2002 (as Starbreeze Studios) |
| Headquarters | Stockholm, Sweden |
Key people | Bo Andersson Klint (CEO) |
| Products | Payday 2 (2013) Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (2013) Syndicate (2012) Payday: The Heist (2011) |
| Revenue | 180 MSEK (13/14) |
| 110 MSEK (13/14) | |
Number of employees | ~50 (13/14) |
| Subsidiaries | Overkill Software Geminose |
| Website | starbreeze.com |
Starbreeze Studios is a video game development studio founded by members of the demogroup Triton, based in Stockholm, Sweden.
History
The company was founded in 1998, under the name O3 Games. In 2000, O3 Games merged with the smaller company Starbreeze Studios which was then based in Härnösand, Sweden. In November 2002, the parent company was renamed Starbreeze AB, of which Starbreeze Studios AB is a wholly owned subsidiary. Starbreeze is listed on the Swedish stock market list Aktietorget since 2000 where the company stock is still publicly traded. As of 2012, Starbreeze employs around 93 people.
Starbreeze Studios' founders include people who were formerly members of the PC demoscene group Triton; Magnus Högdahl worked as CTO and was credited as Lead Engine Programmer. He ended his employment in July 2009.[1] Along with Fredrik Ljungdahl, Jens Matthies, Jim Kjellin, Kjell Emanuelsson, Michael Wynne and Jerk Gustafsson, went on to found MachineGames, which was later acquired by ZeniMax Media.
The company was developing two games, but one of them has been cancelled.[2] The first, codenamed Project RedLime, is a reboot of the Syndicate series developed by Bullfrog Productions and published by Electronic Arts.[3] The second game based on Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne series,[4] was also going to be published by EA, but the project was shelved.[5]
On April 19, 2012 Starbreeze Studios announced it planned to acquire Payday: The Heist studio Overkill Software, pending final approval from shareholders. The acquisition was completed in June, with a purchase price that amounts to 200 million newly issued shares in Starbreeze.[6]
On June 21, 2012 Starbreeze Studios announced that the acquisition of Overkill Software was finalized.
On 25 September 2014, Starbreeze Studios announced that they acquired a LA-based studio called Geminose for 7 million. The studio is currently working on a toys-to-life game.[7]
In May 2015, Starbreeze Studios announced that the company will start publishing video games from independent developers. The first independent title set to be published by Starbreeze is Raid: World War II, an upcoming four-player World War II shooter in development by Lion Game Lion.[8]
StarVR
During E3 2015, Starbreeze Studios announced Project StarVR, a virtual reality headset, which is currently under development by InfinitEye, which was acquired by Starbreeze on the same day.[9]
Union Engine
Union is an in-house engine, created by Starbreeze. The engine was first used in The Darkness. The final version of the engine was used in Syndicate.
Since Union was largely abandoned, Starbreeze then used Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 when developing Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons.
Games developed
as O3 Games
| Year | Title | Genre | Platform |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | The Outforce | Real-time strategy | Microsoft Windows |
as Starbreeze Studios
| Year | Game | Publisher | Platform(s) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PS2 | Xbox | Win | GCN | X360 | PS3 | XBO | PS4 | ||||
| 2002 | Enclave | Conspiracy Entertainment | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | |
| 2003 | Knights of the Temple: Infernal Crusade | TDK Mediactive | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | |
| 2004 | The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay | Vivendi Games | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | |
| 2007 | The Darkness | 2K Games | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | |
| 2009 | The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena | Atari Inc. | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | |
| 2012 | Syndicate | Electronic Arts | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | |
| 2013 | Payday 2 | 505 Games | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | |
| 2013 | Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons | 505 Games | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |
| 2015 | Payday 2: Crimewave Edition | 505 Games | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | |
Subsidiary
- Overkill Software in Stockholm, Sweden. Founded in 2009, acquired in 2012.
References
- ^ http://www.starbreeze.com/investors/oevrigt/foeraendringar-i-styrelsen-090702.aspx
- ^ EA cancels Starbreeze title
- ^ "GameSpy: Riddick Developer Working on a New Syndicate". Uk.gamespy.com. Retrieved 2009-03-31.
- ^ GameSpot News: Bourne license surfaces at EA
- ^ Ben Fritz (March 23, 2010). "Future of Bourne video games uncertain as EA cancels title (updated)". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Rose, Mike. "Starbreeze set to acquire Payday: The Heist developer". Gamasutra.
- ^ Tom Ivan (25 September 2014). "Starbreeze acquires studio making toys-to-life game". Computer and Video Games. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
- ^ Futter, Mike (May 8, 2015). "Payday Developer Starbreeze Announces Move Into Publishing With Raid: World War II". Game Informer. Retrieved May 9, 2015.
- ^ Futter, Mike (June 13, 2015). "Starbreeze Unveils Project StarVR With The Walking Dead Demo". Game Informer. Retrieved June 14, 2015.