Studio Wildcard
 | |
| Studio Wildcard | |
| Company type | Private |
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | October 2014 in Bellevue, Washington, U.S. |
| Founders |
|
| Headquarters | , U.S. |
Key people | Doug Kennedy (CEO) |
| Products | |
Number of employees | 60 (2016) |
| Website | studiowildcard.com |
Wildcard Properties, LLC, doing business as Studio Wildcard, is an American video game developer with offices in Kirkland, Washington, and Gainesville, Florida.[1] The company was founded in October 2014 by Doug Kennedy, Jesse Rapczak, Jeremy Stieglitz and Susan Stieglitz, and is best known for its debut game, Ark: Survival Evolved, which was released in August 2017.
History
Foundation
Studio Wildcard (formally named Wildcard Properties, LLC) was founded in October 2014.[2] Its founders are Doug Kennedy, Jesse Rapczak, Jeremy Stieglitz and Stieglitz' wife, Susan, of whom Kennedy serves as chief executive officer for the company.[3][4][5] While falling under the jurisdiction of Florida, the company's primary offices were set up in Washington.[2] In December 2015, Snail Ark, Inc., a California corporation and subsidiary of SDE, Inc., was merged into Studio Wildcard.[2][6] Three managers of Snail Ark subsequently became managers of Studio Wildcard.[2] In February 2016, the company had 60 people employed at its studio in Bellevue, Washington.[7]
Legal dispute
In December 2015, Trendy Entertainment, the former employer of Jeremy Stieglitz, filed a lawsuit against Studio Wildcard and Stieglitz, alleging that Stieglitz had violated a non-compete agreement between him and Trendy when he, following his resignation from Trendy, secretly formed Studio Wildcard and started working on Ark while hiring developers from Trendy for his endeavor.[3][2] Trendy sought US$600 million in damages, and the two parties settled on April 13, 2016, for $40 million.[8]
Atlas
At The Game Awards 2018, Studio Wildcard announced Atlas, a massively multiplayer online game featuring pirates.[9] According to them, the game was 1,200 times larger than Ark and could host 40,000 players in the same game world.[9][10] To develop Atlas, Studio Wildcard had set up a sister studio, Grapeshot Games, and run a one-year-long recruitment phase to ensure that development on it was not coming at the expense of Ark.[11]
Games developed
| Year | Title | Genre(s) | Platform(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Ark: Survival Evolved | Action-adventure, survival | Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One |
| Ark: Survival of the Fittest | Battle royale | Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows |
References
- ^ "Jobs". Studio Wildcard.
- ^ a b c d e Clark, Anthony (March 30, 2016). "Video game developers waging real-life legal battle". The Gainesville Sun.
- ^ a b Schreier, Jason (March 23, 2016). "Game Studios Enter Legal Battle Over The Making Of Ark: Survival Evolved". Kotaku.
- ^ Brightman, James (November 14, 2017). "Ark dev: "Retail was not something we had planned to do"". GamesIndustry.biz.
- ^ Handrahan, Matthew (March 21, 2018), "Epic: The barrier between Xbox and PlayStation "will inevitably come down"", GamesIndustry.biz
- ^ "Articles of Merger for Florida Limited Liability Company, L14000161311". SunBiz.
- ^ Makuch, Eddie (February 2, 2016). "Ark: Survival Evolved Dev Talks Frame Rate Issues, PS4 Version, Comparisons to Minecraft". GameSpot.
- ^ Schreier, Jason (April 15, 2016). "Ark: Survival Evolved Developers Settle Ugly Lawsuit". Kotaku.
- ^ a b Kuchera, Ben (December 6, 2018). "Ark Survival Evolved creators' new game is a massive pirate MMO called Atlas". Polygon.
- ^ Minotti, Mike (December 6, 2018). "Atlas is a new game of sailing and monsters from Ark: Survival Evolved studio". VentureBeat.
- ^ Sinclair, Brendan (December 17, 2018). "Why go for a surprise launch?". GamesIndustry.biz.