Metropolis Software
 | |
| Company type | Division of CD Projekt |
|---|---|
| Industry | |
| Founded | Warsaw, Poland (1992) |
| Founder |
|
| Defunct | 2009 |
| Parent | CD Projekt (2008–2009) |
Metropolis Software was a Polish video game developer founded in 1992 by high school friends Adrian Chmielarz and Grzegorz Miechowski. The studio gained success in Europe with their titles.
Around 2002, a personal conflict between Chmielarz and Miechowski led to Chmielarz to leave the company. A few months later, Chmielarz founded People Can Fly, along with some other staff from Metropolis.[1] Miechowski continued to run Metropolis, and in 2008, the studio was bought by CD Projekt.[2] and closed in 2009.[3] In October 2010, former CD Projekt and Metropolis Software developers have announced the formation of 11 bit studios, a game development house with Miechowski as managing director.[4]
Among Metropolis' other games, they had been able to secure a license from Andrzej Sapkowski to develop a video game based on Sapkowski's The Witcher series, around 1997. According to Chmielarz, Sapkowski had little interest in the game, only seeing the monetary value of the license, giving Metropolis freedom to develop as they saw fit. Internally, the company got as far as completing one playable level, producing press material, and securing a publisher TopWare, but at the time, Metropolis was also working on three other titles. Between these, difficulties with the game, and TopWare's concern that the Slavic nature of the source material may not have international appeal, the project was shelved. Chmielarz said that the project was never officially cancelled, but got lost among the other work they were doing by 1999.[5] CD Projekt would later acquire the rights for The Witcher from Sapkowski to develop The Witcher (2007), which led to a series of successful games.[6]
Games
- Tajemnica Statuetki (1993)
- Teenagent (1994)
- Blaster! / Katharsis (1997)
- The Prince and the Coward / Książę i tchórz (1998)
- RoboRumble / Reflux (1998)
- Gorky 17 (1999)
- Archangel (2002)
- Gorky Zero: Beyond Honor (2003)
- Gorky Zero 2: Aurora Watching (2004)
- Ski Jumping 2006 / Skoki narciarskie 2006 (2005)
- Infernal (2007)
- They (cancelled)
References
- ^ Hall, Charlie (July 16, 2014). "The Astronauts: A Polish Team Gets Small to Think Bigger". Polygon. Retrieved December 8, 2017.
- ^ "Metropolis Joins CD Projekt Group". IGN. 18 February 2008. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
- ^ "CD Projekt Shuts Down Metropolis Software". GameBanshee. 26 October 2009. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
- ^ Caloini, Eric (October 7, 2010). "CD Projekt, Metropolis Veterans Launch 11 Bit Studios". Gamasutra. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
- ^ Purchase, Robert (May 19, 2015). "The Witcher game that never was". Eurogamer. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
- ^ Scott-Jones, Richard (June 2, 2017). "The Witcher rights cost CD Projekt a lot less than you might think". PCGamesN. Retrieved December 10, 2017.