New World Interactive

Last updated

New World Interactive LLC
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Video games
Founded2010;14 years ago (2010)
Founder
  • Andrew Spearin
  • Jeremy Blum
Headquarters
Denver, Colorado
,
U.S.
Key people
Products
Number of employees
58 [1]  (2021)
Parent Saber Interactive (2020–present)
Website newworldinteractive.com

New World Interactive LLC (NWI) is an American video game developer founded by Andrew Spearin and Jeremy Blum in 2010. The company developed the multiplayer tactical shooter games Insurgency (2014), Day of Infamy (2017), and Insurgency: Sandstorm (2018). In 2020, New World Interactive was acquired by Saber Interactive.

Contents

History

In 2002, Andrew Spearin, a Canadian Army veteran, [2] began development of a total conversion mod for Valve's Source Engine that depicted a conflict between the United States Marine Corps and rebel insurgents, with a focus on realism and authenticity based on Spearin's military experiences. [3] Three years later, in 2005, Jeremy Blum and other Red Orchestra developers joined Andrew Spearin to work on the mod. The mod, titled Insurgency: Modern Infantry Combat , was released in 2007. [4]

In 2010, Spearin and Blum co-founded New World Interactive. Four years later, Insurgency, the standalone sequel to Modern Infantry Combat, was released by the NWI. The game was very well-received.

After the major success of Insurgency, NWI started development on Day of Infamy, another tactical shooter similar to Insurgency, but set in World War II and featuring new gameplay mechanics absent from Insurgency. Development on Day of Infamy began in 2016 as a mod for Insurgency, and was further developed as a standalone game.

In 2018, NWI released Insurgency: Sandstorm, a direct sequel to the original Insurgency. Sandstorm was the first NWI-developed game to not be developed in Source (instead using Unreal Engine 4), and featured both improvements over Insurgency and returning game mechanics from Day of Infamy. The game was announced to be released for Xbox and PlayStation systems, but they were significantly delayed over several years, eventually releasing in 2021. Sandstorm was positively received on release.

In February 2019, New World Interactive announced it would be expanding with a new development studio known as New World North in Calgary, Alberta. [5] In July 2019, NWI Calgary announced their hiring of Michael Grills (formerly of BioWare; hired into the newly formed position of Art Director) [6] and Derek Czerkaski (hired as the also newly formed position of Head of Production). [7]

In March 2020, it was announced that former company President Keith Warner would take over as CEO, with Founder Jeremy Blum acting as Strategic and Creative Advisor. [8]

In August 2020, New World Interactive was acquired by Saber Interactive as part of Embracer Group. [9] [10] In December 2023, during larger restucturings at Embracer Group, Saber Interactive instituted several layoffs at New World Interactive and shifted others to fill open positions at Saber Interactive, while work on Insurgency: Sandstorm and an unannounced project would continue. [11]

In March 2024, Saber was sold to Beacon Interactive, a new company from Saber co-founder Matthew Karch. Many of Saber's studios, including New World Interactive, were included in the sale. [12]

Games

Insurgency

Insurgency is a 2014 tactical shooter video game, following a fictional conflict between the "Security" and "Insurgents" faction in a fictional Middle Eastern region. As a tactical shooter, Insurgency features a limited HUD, lethal weaponry, and a lack of regular respawning. The player's inventory is determined by their character class and supply points (SP), which limit the weapons and equipment the player can bring with them.

Production began in September 2011, and the game was released in early access in 2013. [13] The game was fully released on Steam on January 22, 2014. [14] The game was a success, selling 400,000 copies in the first 8 months and ending up with approximately 3.76 million copies sold up to July 2017. [15] Insurgency was awarded Indie DB's Indie of the Year 2014 Editor's Choice [16] and Indie of the Year 2014 Player's Choice. [17]

Day of Infamy

Day of Infamy is a 2017 tactical shooter video game, following battles between the Allies and Axis on the Western Front of World War II. Though sharing basic gameplay elements with Insurgency, Day of Infamy features significant gameplay changes including a lack of low-powered optical sights, the addition of purchasable cosmetic items, and a new fire support and command system.

Initially developed as a Steam Workshop mod for Insurgency in 2016, development shifted to the creation of an independent game, with the now-standalone Day of Infamy being released in early access in July 2016 [18] and seeing a full release on Steam on March 23, 2017. [19] The game was generally well-received.

Insurgency: Sandstorm

Insurgency: Sandstorm is a 2018 tactical shooter video game, following the same setting of the original Insurgency. Sandstorm refines gameplay mechanics from both Insurgency and Day of Infamy, including a retouched fire support system, and introduces a detailed cosmetics system, purchasable outfits, weapon skins, and drivable vehicles, among other gameplay mechanics.

Development began in 2016, and was the first NWI-developed game to not use Source (instead using Unreal Engine 4), as well as the first to be released for consoles. A campaign, following characters as they survive the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the lasting Iraqi insurgency, was planned and highlighted in prerelease marketing, but was ultimately canceled during development. [20] The Windows version was released on Steam on December 12, 2018; [21] however, the planned MacOS and Linux versions were canceled in 2019, [22] while the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions saw repeated delays [23] [24] until they were released on September 29, 2021, including versions for the Xbox Series X and Series S and PlayStation 5. [25] The game was released to critical acclaim and continues to maintain live service content updates as of 2023.

Unannounced IPs

In July 2019, NWI announced that they were hiring, among other positions, an art director position for an "as-yet unannounced new IP being developed by New World." Job listings suggested the new IPs would be a looter shooter and a cover-based shooter. [26] [ speculation? ] As of 2024, no new information on upcoming IPs have been announced and all job listing have since been removed.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tactical shooter</span> Video game terminology

Tactical shooter is a sub-genre of first- and third-person shooters, associated with using strategy, planning, and tactics in gameplay, as well as the realistic simulations of ballistics, firearm mechanics, physics, stamina, and low time to kill. Dating back to strategy games from the late 1980s, the genre first rose to prominence in the late 1990s with the releases of several well-received tactical shooters. The popularity of the genre saw a decline in the late 2000s as fast-paced "arcade"-like action shooters rose to prominence, it has seen a revitalization since the mid-2010s with the successful releases of several modern tactical shooters.

<i>XCOM</i> Video game series

XCOM, is a science fiction video game franchise featuring an elite international organization tasked with countering alien invasions of Earth. The series began with the strategy video game X-COM: UFO Defense created by Julian Gollop's Mythos Games and MicroProse in 1994. The original lineup by MicroProse included six published and at least two canceled games, as well as two novels. The X-COM series, in particular its original entry, achieved a sizable cult following and has influenced many other video games; including the creation of a number of clones, spiritual successors, and unofficial remakes.

<i>Half-Life 2</i> 2004 video game

Half-Life 2 is a 2004 first-person shooter (FPS) game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It was published for Windows on Valve's digital distribution service, Steam. Like the original Half-Life (1998), Half-Life 2 combines shooting, puzzles, and storytelling, and adds new features such as vehicles and physics-based gameplay. The player controls Gordon Freeman, who joins a resistance to liberate Earth from the Combine, an interplanetary alien empire.

Saber Interactive Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Founded by Andrey Iones, Matthew Karch, and Anton Krupkin in 2001, it is controlled by Karch's investment company Beacon Interactive. The company employs over 1,350 people.

<i>20XX</i> 2017 video game

20XX is an indie action platform video game developed by American indie studio Batterystaple Games. The early access version was released for Microsoft Windows on Steam on October 12, 2016, and in full on August 16, 2017. PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One versions were released in July 2018. A sequel, 30XX, was released on Steam Early Access on February 17, 2021, and in full on August 9, 2023.

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

Aspyr Media, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher founded by Michael Rogers and Ted Staloch in Austin, Texas. Originally founded to bring top gaming titles to macOS, the company, since 2005, has become a publisher and developer of entertainment for multiple gaming platforms.

<i>Rome: Total Realism</i> 2005 video game

Rome: Total Realism is a series of complete modification packs for the computer game Rome: Total War, intended to rectify historical inaccuracies in the original game. RTR has been featured in several major gaming sites and magazines, such as PC Gamer (US), PC Gamer UK, and GameSpot. Recent versions of RTR include Rome: Total Realism VII : Grand Campaign, which uses the newer Barbarian Invasion engine. In 2021, the RTR team joined forces with the old Roma Surrectum team in order to develop a new project called RTR: Imperium Surrectum for the remaster of the original game that has recently been brought on the market by Feral Interactive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mod DB</span> Video game modding website

Mod DB is a website that focuses on general video game modding. It was founded in 2002 by Scott "INtense!" Reismanis. As of September 2015, the Mod DB site has received over 604 million views, has more than 12,500 modifications registered, and has hosted more than 108 million downloads. A spin-off website, Indie DB, was launched in 2010 and focuses on indie games and news.

Tripwire Interactive LLC is an American video game developer and publisher based in Roswell, Georgia.

TopWare Interactive – AC Enterprises e.K. is a German video game publisher based in Karlsruhe. The company is best known for publishing the Two Worlds series developed by its Reality Pump Studios division.

<i>Insurgency: Modern Infantry Combat</i> 2007 video game

Insurgency: Modern Infantry Combat is a multiplayer tactical shooter total conversion mod for Valve's Source engine, developed by the Insurgency Development Team and published for Windows, macOS, and Linux on October 23, 2007. Set during the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan, the game follows the conflict between the United States Marine Corps and the Iraqi insurgency.

<i>Fallout: New Vegas</i> 2010 video game

Fallout: New Vegas is a 2010 action role-playing game developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Bethesda Softworks. It was announced in April 2009 and released for PlayStation 3, Windows, and Xbox 360 on October 19, 2010. A spin-off of the main Fallout series, the game is set in a post-apocalyptic open-world environment that encompasses a region consisting of parts of Arizona, California, and Nevada. It is set in a world that deviated onto an alternate timeline thanks to Atomic Age technology, which eventually led to a global nuclear apocalypse in the year 2077 in an event referred to as "The Great War", caused by a major conflict between the U.S. and China over natural resources. The main story of New Vegas takes place in the year 2281, four years after the events of Fallout 3 and 204 years after the bombs fell. It is not a sequel but does feature the return of several elements found in Fallout 2.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">4A Games</span> Ukrainian-Maltese video game developer

4A Games Limited is a Ukrainian-Maltese video game developer based in Sliema, Malta. The company was founded in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2006 by three developers who departed from GSC Game World. In 2014, 4A Games moved its headquarters to Sliema, wherein the Kyiv office was retained as a sub-studio. The company is best known for developing the Metro video game series.

<i>Squad</i> (video game) 2020 video game

Squad is a realism-based military tactical first-person shooter video game developed and published by Canadian indie developer Offworld Industries exclusively through the Steam distribution platform. It is a spiritual successor to the Project Reality modification for Battlefield 2. The game depicts realistic modern warfare between military and paramilitary factions in large and expansive battlefields. Squad became available on Steam Early Access in December 2015, and was officially released on Steam in September 2020.

Insurgency is a multiplayer tactical first-person shooter video game developed and published by New World Interactive. It is a standalone sequel to Insurgency: Modern Infantry Combat, a community-made mod for Valve's Source engine. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux on January 22, 2014.

Day of Infamy is a multiplayer tactical first-person shooter video game developed and published by New World Interactive set during the events of the European Theatre of World War II. It is a spinoff of New World Interactive's previous title Insurgency, from which it takes most of its gameplay elements. Day of Infamy uses Valve's Source Engine.

Snapshot Games is a Bulgarian video game developer headquartered in Sofia. Snapshot Games was founded in 2013 by Julian Gollop and David Kaye. Gollop is recognized for creating the X-COM video game franchise in the 1990s with X-COM: UFO Defense and X-COM: Apocalypse. Gollop also is the CEO of Snapshot Games. In addition to Gollop, the company includes about eight developers who are industry veterans with years of previous experience working for Ubisoft Sofia, Crytek Black Sea, and other Bulgaria studios.

<i>Insurgency: Sandstorm</i> 2018 tactical shooter video game

Insurgency: Sandstorm is a multiplayer tactical first-person shooter video game developed by New World Interactive and published by Focus Home Interactive. The game is a sequel to the 2014 video game Insurgency. Set in an unnamed fictional Middle Eastern region, the game depicts a conflict between two factions: "Security", loosely based on various militaries ; and "Insurgents", loosely based on various paramilitary and terrorist groups.

<i>World War 3</i> (video game) 2022 video game

World War 3 is a free-to-play first-person shooter developed by Wishlist Games and published by The 4 Winds Entertainment for Microsoft Windows. World War 3 is solely multiplayer and does not feature a single-player campaign. It features real-world locations of Warsaw, Berlin, Moscow, Smolensk, Polyarny, the Gobi Desert, Tokyo, the Korean DMZ, and Istanbul; the locations have been extensively revamped since the early access release on October 19, 2018. The full version followed on December 10, 2022. On December 14, 2023, Wishlist Games acquired the rights to develop World War 3 from The Farm 51, becoming the next lead development studio for the game.

References

  1. ↑ "Embracer Group Annual Report & Sustainability Report 2020 / 2021" (PDF). Embracer Group. August 25, 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 25, 2021. Retrieved September 12, 2021.
  2. ↑ Gillen, Kieron (February 8, 2008). "Rise Up: Andrew Spearin on Insurgency's victory". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  3. ↑ "Insurgency mod for Half-Life 2". Mod DB. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  4. ↑ "INSURGENCY: Modern Infantry Combat - Valve Developer Community". developer.valvesoftware.com. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  5. ↑ "Insurgency developer New World Interactive opens Canadian studio". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
  6. ↑ "Former Bioware Lead Artist Joins Insurgency Developer New World Interactive". en.cbreaker.net. Retrieved July 26, 2019.
  7. ↑ "Insurgency developer New World Interactive hires Tencent, Ubisoft, and Epic veteran Derek Czerkaski to new Head of Production role, in Calgary AB." Robly Email Marketing. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
  8. ↑ "Insurgency dev New World appoints new CEO".
  9. ↑ Kerr, Chris (August 13, 2020). "THQ parent company Embracer has purchased Metro dev 4A Games and others". Gamasutra . Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  10. ↑ "Embracer Group Acquires New World Interactive" (Press release). Embracer Group. August 13, 2020. Retrieved August 13, 2020.
  11. ↑ Ngan, Liv (December 5, 2023). "Embracer confirms layoffs at Insurgency developer New World Interactive". Eurogamer . Retrieved December 13, 2023.
  12. ↑ McEvoy, Sophie (March 14, 2024). "Embracer sells Saber Interactive for $247m". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
  13. ↑ "NEW WORLD INTERACTIVE PROVIDES "EARLY ACCESS" TO INSURGENCY TODAY AT 6 PM PACIFIC". March 2013.
  14. ↑ "Insurgency Review". AusGamers.com. January 23, 2014. Retrieved February 9, 2014.
  15. ↑ Spearin, Andrew (September 24, 2014). "First 24hrs: Results from Steam's update". Medium. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  16. ↑ "Indie of the Year 2014 - Editor's Choice". IndieDB.com. December 24, 2014. Retrieved March 20, 2017.
  17. ↑ "Indie of the Year 2014 - Player's Choice". IndieDB.com. December 24, 2014. Retrieved March 20, 2017.
  18. ↑ "Steam Community :: Group Announcements ::Day of Infamy". steamcommunity.com. July 28, 2016. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
  19. ↑ "Steam Community :: Group Announcements ::Day of Infamy". steamcommunity.com. March 9, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
  20. ↑ "Insurgency: Sandstorm Community Update - A Shift in Direction". Focus Home Interactive - Official Forums. January 3, 2018. Retrieved October 13, 2019.
  21. ↑ "Announcing Insurgency: Sandstorm | New World Interactive". newworldinteractive.com. February 23, 2016. Retrieved April 2, 2018.
  22. ↑ "Steam :: Insurgency: Sandstorm :: State of Production 4". steamcommunity.com. December 9, 2019. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
  23. ↑ "Insurgency Sandstorm PS4 and Xbox One Versions Delayed". PlayStation LifeStyle. June 3, 2018. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  24. ↑ "Insurgency Sandstorm Console Release Date Confirmed for August 2020". PlayStation LifeStyle. February 26, 2020. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  25. ↑ "Insurgency Sandstorm Console Release Date Now Slated for 2021". PlayStation LifeStyle. August 13, 2020. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  26. ↑ "Senior AI Programmer". New World Interactive. January 3, 2022. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.