Neon Giant

Last updated

Neon Giant AB
Type Subsidiary
Industry Video games
FoundedApril 2018;5 years ago (2018-04)
Founder
  • Tor Frick
  • Arcade Berg
  • Jonathan Heckley
  • Erik Gloersen
Headquarters,
Sweden
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Owner Amplifier Game Invest (28%) [1]
Members11
Parent Krafton (2022–present)
Website neongiant.se

Neon Giant AB is a Swedish video game developer headquartered in Uppsala, Sweden. [2] It was founded by Tor Frick, Arcade Berg, Jonathan Heckley and Erik Gloersen in 2018.

Contents

History

Neon Giant was founded in April 2018 as an independent venture by former AAA employee game developers Tor Frick, Arcade Berg, Jonathan Heckley and Erik Gloersen. With the support of investor company Goodbye Kansas (now known as Amplifier Game Invest), [3] Neon Giant received an initial investment of 1,000,000 kr (approximately $110,000). [2] [4] Upon investing in the company, Amplifier Game Invest CEO Per-Arne Luundberg said — "Neon Giant consists of a real dream team that not only has enormous experience, they also have an incredibly efficient working process —I'm convinced that their first release will be a milestone in Swedish game development". [5] The founders had previously worked on popular games such as Bulletstorm , Far Cry 3 , Gears of War , Wolfenstein and Doom. [5]

On 28 June 2018, Neon Giant were recipients of one of 37 developers grants offered by Epic Games to promising developers working with Unreal Engine 4. They were awarded between $5,000 and $50,000 based on their work on an unannounced title "set in a brand new cyberpunk world". [6]

In May 2020, Neon Giant announced their debut game, The Ascent . [7] It is a cyberpunk themed action role-playing game which was released on 29 July 2021. [8] The Neon Giant team consists of 11 people. [9]

On 11 November 2022, South Korean video game publisher Krafton announced that it planned to acquire Neon Giant for an undisclosed amount - which was scheduled to begin on 14 December. [10] [11]

Games developed

TitleYearPlatform(s)
The Ascent 2021 Microsoft Windows, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unreal Engine</span> Video game engine developed by Epic Games

Unreal Engine (UE) is a series of 3D computer graphics game engines developed by Epic Games, first showcased in the 1998 first-person shooter video game Unreal. Initially developed for PC first-person shooters, it has since been used in a variety of genres of games and has seen adopted by other industries, most notably the film and television industry. Unreal Engine is written in C++ and features a high degree of portability, supporting a wide range of desktop, mobile, console, and virtual reality platforms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Epic Games</span> American video game company

Epic Games, Inc. is an American video game and software developer and publisher based in Cary, North Carolina. The company was founded by Tim Sweeney as Potomac Computer Systems in 1991, originally located in his parents' house in Potomac, Maryland. Following its first commercial video game release, ZZT (1991), the company became Epic MegaGames, Inc. in early 1992 and brought on Mark Rein, who has been its vice president since. After moving the headquarters to Cary in 1999, the studio changed its name to Epic Games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital Extremes</span> Canadian video game developer

Digital Extremes Ltd. is a Canadian video game developer founded in 1993 by James Schmalz. They are best known for creating Warframe, a free-to-play cooperative online action game, and co-creating Epic Games' Unreal series of games. Digital Extremes is headquartered in London, Ontario. In 2014, 61% of the company was sold to Chinese holding company Multi Dynamic, now Leyou, for $73 million. On May 22, 2016 Leyou exercised a call option and increased their stake to 97% of Digital Extremes for a total consideration of $138.2 million US. On December 23, 2020, Tencent bought Leyou for 1.3 billion dollars, which included the majority stake in Digital Extremes that Leyou held.

Arkane Studios SASU is a French video game developer based in Lyon. It was founded in 1999, and released its first game, Arx Fatalis, in 2002. Besides the Lyon studio, Arkane Lyon, Arkane Studios operates Arkane Studios LLC in Austin, Texas, since July 2006. The studio is most known for creating the Dishonored series as well as developing Prey (2017), Deathloop (2021) and Redfall (2023). They are currently developing Marvel's Blade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">People Can Fly</span> Polish video game developer

People Can Fly is a Polish video game developer based in Warsaw. The studio was founded in February 2002 by Adrian Chmielarz, previously the co-founder of Metropolis Software, together with acquaintances Michał Kosieradzki and Andrzej Poznański. The studio's first game was Painkiller (2004). Its success led to a deal with THQ for the game Come Midnight, which allowed the studio to expand. After the game was cancelled, People Can Fly found itself in financial trouble. Epic Games acquired a majority share in People Can Fly in August 2007 and collaborated with the studio on projects such as Bulletstorm (2011) and Gears of War: Judgment (2013).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unknown Worlds Entertainment</span> American video game developer

Unknown Worlds Entertainment is an American video game developer based in San Francisco. The studio is best known for the Natural Selection and Subnautica series. In October 2021, the studio was acquired by South Korean video game developer Krafton.

<i>TERA</i> (video game) 2011 video game

TERA, also known as TERA Online, is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Bluehole Studio, a subsidiary of Krafton. The game was released in South Korea on 25 January 2011, in North America on 1 May 2012, and in Europe on 3 May 2012, with closed and open beta tests taking place before the launch dates. Nexon, Krafton, and Gameforge published the game in these regions, respectively. En Masse Entertainment was the North American publisher, until September 2020, while Atari handled physical distribution. In February 2013 the game was renamed to TERA: Rising concurrently with the game's launch to the free-to-play model.

<i>Bulletstorm</i> 2011 first-person shooter game

Bulletstorm is a 2011 first-person shooter game developed by People Can Fly and Epic Games and published by Electronic Arts (EA). The video game is distinguished by its system of rewarding players with "skillpoints" for performing increasingly creative kills. Bulletstorm does not have any competitive multiplayer modes, preferring instead to include cooperative online play and score attack modes. Set in the 26th century, the game's story follows Grayson Hunt, a space pirate and former black ops soldier who gets shot down on a war-torn planet while trying to exact revenge on General Sarrano, his former commander who tricked him and his men into committing war crimes and assassinating innocents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coffee Stain Studios</span> Swedish video game developer

Coffee Stain Studios AB is a Swedish video game developer based in Skövde. Founded in 2010 by nine University of Skövde students, the company is best known for Goat Simulator, which was released in April 2014, and Satisfactory, released as an early access game in 2019. Their parent holding company also operates Coffee Stain Publishing, a publisher, and majority-owns developers Coffee Stain North and Lavapotion. In November 2018, the Coffee Stain group was acquired by THQ Nordic AB.

Bloober Team S.A. is a Polish video game developer based in Kraków. Founded in November 2008 by Peter Babieno and Peter Bielatowicz, the company is best known for developing horror games such as Layers of Fear (2016), Observer (2017), Blair Witch (2019), and The Medium (2021). In January 2018, Bloober Team received the Paszport Polityki award in the "Digital Culture" category. It owns third-party publisher Feardemic.

<i>Cyberpunk 2077</i> 2020 video game

Cyberpunk 2077 is a 2020 action role-playing video game developed by CD Projekt Red and published by CD Projekt, based on video game designer Mike Pondsmith's tabletop game series. Set in a dystopian cyberpunk universe, the player assumes the role of "V", a mercenary in the fictional Californian city known as "Night City", where they deal with the fallout from a heist gone wrong that results in an experimental cybernetic "bio-chip" containing an engram of the legendary rock star and terrorist Johnny Silverhand threatening to slowly overwrite V's mind; as the story progresses V and Johnny must work together to find a way to be separated and save V's life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CD Projekt</span> Polish video game company

CD Projekt S.A. is a Polish video game developer, publisher and distributor based in Warsaw, founded in May 1994 by Marcin Iwiński and Michał Kiciński. Iwiński and Kiciński were video game retailers before they founded the company, which initially acted as a distributor of foreign video games for the domestic market. The department responsible for developing original games, CD Projekt Red, best known for The Witcher series, was formed in 2002. In 2008, CD Projekt launched the digital distribution service Good Old Games, now known as GOG.com.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Psyonix</span> American video game developer

Psyonix LLC is an American video game developer based in San Diego. It was founded in 2000 by Dave Hagewood with the team of his Internet-focused company WebSite Machines. After canceling its first two projects, Psyonix created VehicleMOD, a mod that adds vehicles to Unreal Tournament 2003. The game's developer, Epic Games, subsequently hired the studio to recreate this gameplay for a game mode in Unreal Tournament 2004. Psyonix subsisted off contract work and released its first original game, Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars, in 2008. The game was not as successful as anticipated but Hagewood held on to the game's concept and had a small team prototype a sequel while the rest of the company worked on further contract projects. This sequel was released as Rocket League in 2015 and became a commercial success. Epic Games acquired the studio in May 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rod Fergusson</span> Canadian video game producer

Rod Fergusson is a Canadian video game producer, best known for overseeing the development of the Gears of War franchise, originally at Epic Games and then as head of The Coalition. More recently, Fergusson moved over to Blizzard Entertainment to oversee development on the Diablo series.

<i>Observer</i> (video game) 2017 video game

Observer is a psychological horror video game developed by Bloober Team and published by Aspyr. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in August 2017, followed by versions for Linux, macOS and Nintendo Switch. An upgraded and expanded version called Observer: System Redux was released in November 2020 for Windows, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S, for Amazon Luna in March 2021, and for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in July 2021. Observer follows Daniel Lazarski, a detective known as an Observer, who can hack people's minds as a method of interrogation.

Krafton Inc. is a South Korean video game holding company based in Bundang-gu, Seongnam. It was created in November 2018 to serve as the parent company for Bluehole, founded by Chang-Byung-gyu in Seoul in March 2007, and its subsidiaries. The company has produced or owns the rights to several notable video game titles including TERA, The Ascent, PUBG: Battlegrounds, New State Mobile, and Moonbreaker. According to Forbes, Chang has a net worth of $2.9 billion and is one of the seven gaming billionaires in South Korea.

<i>The Ascent</i> (video game) 2021 video game

The Ascent is a cyberpunk-themed action role-playing video game developed by Swedish indie game studio Neon Giant and published by Curve Digital for Microsoft Windows, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One on 29 July 2021. It was developed using Unreal Engine 4 by a team of 12 people and is Neon Giant's debut in the industry. The game received positive reviews from critics upon its release, with praise for its visuals, combat, and soundtrack, but criticism for the emphasis on grinding.

<i>S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl</i> Upcoming video game

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is an upcoming first-person shooter survival horror video game developed and published by Ukrainian game developer GSC Game World. It will be the fourth game released in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. video game series, the first game in the series released on consoles, as well as the first S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game in 15 years since the release of Call of Pripyat in 2009.

Poland is a major video game market and home to one of the largest video game industries in the world. In 2022, Poland became the world’s fourth largest exporter of video games and Polish publicly-traded gaming companies were worth over €12 billion. The game studios in the country employ around 10,000 people and release almost 500 new games annually.

References

  1. "Annual Report 2021/2022" (PDF). Embracer Group. 8 July 2022. p. 138. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
  2. 1 2 Novac, Dragos. "Neon Giant secured investment from Goodbye Kansas Game Invest for launching a new gaming studio in Uppsala". Nordic 9. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  3. Novac, Dragos. "Amplifier Game Invest". Nordic 9. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  4. "Ex-Wolfenstein, Bulletstorm devs forming new studio Neon Giant". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  5. 1 2 "Neon Giant is a new studio comprised of ex-Wolfenstein and Bulletstorm devs". Destructoid. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  6. "Epic Games Announces $1 Million in Unreal Dev Grants". Unreal Engine. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  7. Shea, Brian. "Indie Studio Neon Giant Announces Cyberpunk-Themed Co-op Shooter The Ascent For Xbox Series X". Game Informer. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  8. "The Ascent | Xbox". Xbox.com. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  9. How The Ascent Became an Xbox Series X Launch Exclusive – IGN First - IGN , retrieved 23 November 2020
  10. Batchelor, James. "Krafton profits up to $171.5 million despite lowest quarter since 2020". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
  11. "Krafton acquired Neo Giant". Twitter.com. Retrieved 14 November 2022.