 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 20 February 2012 in Farnborough |
| Founder | Peter Molyneux |
| Headquarters | , England |
Key people |
|
| Products | Curiosity: What's Inside the Cube? , Godus |
| Website | 22cans |
22cans Ltd is a British video game developer based in Guildford. It was founded in February 2012 by Peter Molyneux, previously of Bullfrog Productions and Lionhead Studios.
Peter Molyneux, who had previously founded Bullfrog Productions and Lionhead Studios, established 22cans on 20 February 2012 in Farnborough. To do so, he left Lionhead and partnered with Tim Rance and Peter Murphy, Lionhead's former chief technology officer and company director, respectively. Molyneux first announced the establishment on 7 March. [1] By April that year, he had received more than 1,000 applications. [2] Significant hires were Jack Attridge in July 2012 and Jamie Stowe in April 2013. [3] [4]
22cans' first game was Curiosity: What's Inside the Cube? , which was released for Android and iOS on 6 November 2012. [5] In 2015, following the troubled launch of Godus , Simon Phillips was hired as the company's chief executive officer, replacing Molyneux, who would henceforth focus on game design. [6] Godus' co-creator and designer Jack Attridge had left the studio by April 2015, [3] while Godus' remaining designer, Konrad Naszynski, left in June 2016, as his contract with the company had ended. [7]
In November 2016, 22cans released The Trail: Frontier Challenge for mobile devices [8] with modest promotion. [9] 22cans and publisher Kongregate later announced in July 2017 they would rework the mobile game for PC, with Molyneux saying they would "take the core gameplay and narrative of The Trail on mobile and reimagine it for Steam players," with gameplay that would be "far more strategic." [8] It was released for Microsoft Windows and macOS on Steam 15 August 2017. [10] It was then released for the Nintendo Switch March 2018. [11]
In February 2019, 22cans announced Legacy, a game inspired by Molyneux's first released game, The Entrepreneur (1984), [12] a text-based business simulation game about running a fledgling company. [13] The studio underwent an undisclosed number of layoffs in February 2021, though confirmed that development would continue. [14] Molyneux announced in December 2021 that Legacy will incorporate blockchain-based elements including non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which will allow players to sell and purchase virtual goods as part of the business simulation gameplay. [15] By March 2022, before the announcement of a release date and more than a year-and-a-half before the game's eventual release, all in-game land plots were sold by 22cans, [16] generating over US$50,000,000 in revenue from cryptocurrency-based sales of digital land NFTs. [16] [17] The game was released to the public on 26 October 2023 on Gala Games as a freemium title for macOS and Microsoft Windows. [18]
In June 2023, Molyneux announced 22cans was working on a new game, likely for PC and console and less likely to be developed for mobile. Though Molyneux gave few details, he said it is the first game he's coded for since his work on Black & White and that the studio has been exploring ideas for the game for the past five years. [19] Molyneux later revealed the project was titled Project MOAT and will be set in Albion, a fictional setting from the Fable franchise. [20]
| Year | Title | Platform(s) | Publisher(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Curiosity: What's Inside the Cube? | Android, iOS | 22cans |
| 2014 | Godus | Android, iOS, macOS, Microsoft Windows | DeNA, 22cans |
| 2016 | Godus Wars | macOS, Microsoft Windows | 22cans |
| The Trail: Frontier Challenge | Android, iOS, macOS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch | Kongregate | |
| 2023 | Legacy | macOS, Microsoft Windows | Gala Games |
Lionhead Studios Limited was a British video game developer founded in July 1997 by Peter Molyneux, Mark Webley, Tim Rance, and Steve Jackson. The company is best known for the Black & White and Fable series. Lionhead started as a breakaway from developer Bullfrog Productions, which was also founded by Molyneux. Lionhead's first game was Black & White, a god game with elements of artificial life and strategy games. Black & White was published by Electronic Arts in 2001. Lionhead Studios is named after Webley's hamster, which died not long after the naming of the studio, as a result of which the studio was very briefly renamed to Redeye Studios.
Populous is a video game developed by Bullfrog Productions and published by Electronic Arts, released originally for the Amiga in 1989, and is regarded by many as the first god game. With over four million copies sold, Populous is one of the best-selling PC games of all time.
Peter Douglas Molyneux is an English video game designer and programmer. He created the god games Populous, Dungeon Keeper, and Black & White, as well as Theme Park, the Fable series, Curiosity: What's Inside the Cube?, and Godus. In 2012 he founded and currently runs 22cans, a video game development studio.
Black & White is a god video game developed by Lionhead Studios and published by Electronic Arts for Microsoft Windows in 2001 and by Feral Interactive in 2002 for Mac OS. Black & White combines elements of artificial life and strategy. The player acts as a god whose goal is to defeat Nemesis, another god who wants to take over the world. A primary theme is the concept of good and evil, with the atmosphere being affected by the player's moral choices. The core gameplay mechanic of Black & White is the interaction between the player and an avatar creature, who carries out the player's instructions and whose personality and behaviour change in reaction to how they are treated. Multiplayer is supported over a local network or online.
Bullfrog Productions Limited was a British video game developer based in Guildford, England. Founded in 1987 by Peter Molyneux and Les Edgar, the company gained recognition in 1989 for their third release, Populous, and is also well known for titles such as Theme Park, Theme Hospital, Magic Carpet, Syndicate and Dungeon Keeper. Bullfrog's name was derived from an ornament in the offices of Edgar's and Molyneux's other enterprise, Taurus Impact Systems, Bullfrog's precursor where Molyneux and Edgar were developing business software. Bullfrog Productions was founded as a separate entity after Commodore mistook Taurus for a similarly named company.
Dungeon Keeper is a strategy video game developed by Bullfrog Productions and released by Electronic Arts in June 1997 for MS-DOS and Windows 95. In Dungeon Keeper, the player builds and manages a dungeon, protecting it from invading 'hero' characters intent on stealing accumulated treasures, killing monsters and ultimately the player's demise. The ultimate goal is to conquer the world by destroying the heroic forces and rival dungeon keepers in each realm. A character known as the Avatar appears as the final hero. Dungeon Keeper uses Creative Technology's SoundFont technology to enhance its atmosphere. Multiplayer with up to four players is supported using a modem, or over a local network.
Fable is an action role-playing video game, the first in the Fable series. It was developed for the Xbox, Windows, and Mac OS X platforms by Big Blue Box Studios, a satellite developer of Lionhead Studios, and was published by Microsoft Studios. The game shipped for the Xbox in September 2004. An extended version of the game, Fable: The Lost Chapters, was released for the Xbox and Windows in September 2005. A port of the game for Mac OS X, created by Robosoft Technologies and published by Feral Interactive, was released in March 2008 after a delay of more than two years due to licensing issues.
Populous: The Beginning is a real-time strategy video game and the third entry in the Populous series, developed by Bullfrog Productions. The game was released in 1998 on Microsoft Windows, and in 1999 for the PlayStation. Unlike earlier games in the series, which cast the player in the role of a god influencing loyal followers, The Beginning took a radical departure and placed the player in the role of a shaman, who directly leads her tribe against opponents. Throughout the twenty-five missions of the campaign, the player leads their tribe across a solar system, dominating enemy tribes and tapping new sources of magic, with the ultimate goal of the shaman attaining godhood herself.
The Movies is a business simulation game created by Lionhead Studios for Microsoft Windows and ported to Mac OS X by Feral Interactive. Players run a Hollywood film studio, creating films that can be exported from the game. The Movies was released in November 2005 to positive reviews and several awards, but sold poorly. An expansion, The Movies: Stunts & Effects, was released in 2006.
Mark Healey is a British video game developer from Ipswich, Suffolk. Healey started his career making games for the Commodore 64 home computer – his first published game was KGB Super Spy for Codemasters, which led to developing the educational Fun School series of games for Europress Software.
A spiritual successor is a product or fictional work that is similar to, or directly inspired by, another previous product or work, but does not explicitly continue the product line or media franchise of its predecessor, and is thus only a successor "in spirit". Spiritual successors often have similar themes and styles to their preceding material, but are generally a distinct intellectual property.
Fable III is a 2010 action role-playing video game developed by Lionhead Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. The third game in the Fable series, the story focuses on the player character's struggle to overthrow the King of Albion, the player character's brother, by forming alliances and building support for a revolution. After a successful revolt, the player becomes the monarch and is tasked with attempting to defend Albion from a great evil. The game includes voice acting by Ben Kingsley (Sabine), Stephen Fry (Reaver), Simon Pegg, Naomie Harris (Page), Michael Fassbender (Logan), Zoë Wanamaker (Theresa), Bernard Hill, Nicholas Hoult (Elliot), John Cleese (Jasper), Jonathan Ross, Adjoa Andoh (Kalin), Kellie Bright, and Louis Tamone.
Fable is a series of action role-playing video games for Xbox, Microsoft Windows, macOS, Xbox 360 and Xbox One platforms. The series was developed by Lionhead Studios until the studio was closed in 2016, and is published by Xbox Game Studios.
Curiosity – What's Inside the Cube? was an experimental video game by Peter Molyneux's studio 22cans. Originally called Curiosity, the game was later renamed to avoid confusion with the Mars rover. The social experiment ended on 26 May 2013 and was won by Bryan Henderson from Edinburgh, Scotland. The game was met with controversy after the reward ended up being less "life-changing" than claimed, and ultimately nearly nonexistent due to the commercial failure of Godus.
Godus is a god video game developed by 22cans and published by DeNA. The company launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds and met their funding goal on 20 December 2012. Godus was designed by Peter Molyneux, who described it as the spiritual successor to his earlier creation, Populous. A real-time strategy, combat game spin-off, Godus Wars, was released in 2016. While the mobile versions of Godus continue to be updated, the PC editions of both games never left Steam Early Access, and are no longer available for purchase on the Steam store.
Creation was a cancelled real-time strategy video game developed by Bullfrog Productions as a spin-off of their Syndicate series of real-time tactics games. Set on an alien water world, a player-controlled submarine is tasked with looking after marine life and defending it from the Syndicate, who run planet Earth.
Mark Webley is a British video game developer, known for working with developers such as Peter Molyneux and Gary Carr for Bullfrog Productions and later Lionhead Studios on projects including Theme Hospital and Black & White. In 2012, he took over as head of Lionhead after Molyneux left, and in 2016, he founded a studio called Two Point Studios with Carr, which has signed a publishing deal with Sega.
Two Point Hospital is a 2018 business simulation game developed by Two Point Studios and published by Sega for Linux, macOS, and Windows. Console versions for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One were released in February 2020. A version for Amazon Luna was made available in November 2020. A spiritual successor to Bullfrog Productions' 1997 game Theme Hospital, players are tasked with constructing and operating an empire of hospitals in the fictional Two Point County, with the goal of curing patients of fictitious, comical ailments. Since visiting real hospitals is often unpleasant, the emphasis on humour to lighten the mood was deemed important by the developers. The game was designed and developed by some of the creators of Theme Hospital, including Mark Webley and Gary Carr.
Video games can include elements that use blockchain technologies, including cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), often as a form of monetization. These elements typically allow players to trade in-game items for cryptocurrency, or represent in-game items with NFTs. A subset of these games are also known as play-to-earn games because they include systems that allow players to earn cryptocurrency through gameplay. Blockchain games have existed since 2017, gaining wider attention from the video game industry in 2021. Several AAA publishers have expressed intent to include this technology in the future. Players, developers, and game companies have criticized the use of blockchain technology in video games for being exploitative, environmentally unsustainable, and unnecessary.