Company type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Video games |
Founded | January 25, 2005 in New York City, U.S. |
Headquarters | , U.S. |
Key people | |
Products | |
Parent | Take-Two Interactive |
Subsidiaries | See § Studios |
Website | 2k |
2K is an American video game publisher based in Novato, California. The company was founded as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive in January 2005 through the 2K Games and 2K Sports sub-labels. The nascent label incorporated several development studios owned by Take-Two, including Visual Concepts and Kush Games, which had been acquired the day before. Originally based in New York City, 2K moved to Novato in 2007. A third label, 2K Play, was added in September 2007. 2K is governed by David Ismailer as president and Phil Dixon as chief operating officer. It operates a motion capture studio in Petaluma, California. [1]
On January 24, 2005, Take-Two Interactive announced its acquisition of Visual Concepts, the developer of sports video game series like NBA 2K , NHL 2K , and MLB 2K . Take-Two paid Sega US$24 million for the studio, including its Kush Games subsidiary and the intellectual property of the 2K series. [2] [3] On the following day, the company established the 2K publishing label, consisting of the sub-labels 2K Games and 2K Sports, with the latter focusing on sports games. [4] [5] [6] Visual Concepts and Kush Games, alongside Indie Built, Venom Games, PopTop Software, and Frog City Software, became studios of the new label, which also absorbed the staff of Take-Two Licensing. [7] In January 2006, the administration and marketing portions of 2K's New York City offices were heavily damaged by a five-alarm fire. [8] In June 2007, the company closed these offices and relocated to Novato, California, bringing it closer to Visual Concepts. [9] A third sub-label, 2K Play, was established with a focus on casual games in September 2007, with Take-Two announcing a partnership with Nickelodeon for licensed games based on the latter's TV shows. [10] [11] 2K Play therein also absorbed all assets of Take-Two's budget-range publisher Global Star Software, including the studio Cat Daddy Games, the game Carnival Games , and games based on Deal or No Deal . [12] In January 2013, 2K obtained the rights to publish video games based on the professional wrestling company WWE. [13]
Christoph Hartmann, 2K's president, announced his resignation in May 2017. [14] He had worked for Take-Two for roughly twenty years but did not state a reason for his departure. [15] [16] He was succeeded by David Ismailer, previous chief operating officer (COO), later that month. [17] [18] The COO role was filled by Phil Dixon, formerly of Betfair, in November 2017, while Melissa Bell was hired as senior vice president and head of global marketing in April 2018. [19] In September 2018, 2K announced 2K Foundations, a program that would "support underserved communities across the nation by refurbishing basketball courts in neighborhoods that need them the most". Microsoft partnered with 2K to establish gaming stations fitted with Xbox One S consoles at these courts. 2K Foundations planned to refurbish twelve basketball courts in several cities across the United States (including Cincinnati, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Cleveland) within its first year. [20] [21]
In March 2021, 2K acquired HB Studios, which had previously developed The Golf Club 2019 featuring PGA Tour and PGA Tour 2K21 for the company. The acquisition includes the rights to the Golf Club series, which had been relaunched as the PGA Tour 2K series through a license from the PGA Tour. [22] Additionally, 2K announced it had secured a contract with Tiger Woods, who had previously been a key figure for Electronic Arts' PGA Tour series, as an executive director and consultant for future PGA Tour 2K games, as well as his likeness for the games. [23] Later that month, 2K bought HookBang's games division in Austin, Texas, which had supported work on the NBA 2K series in the past. The studio was relocated to a new Austin location and rebranded as Visual Concepts Austin. [24] In September 2022, 2K's customer support team was hacked, with certain user data stolen and put on sale. [25] [26]
2K released its own game launcher for computer users in 2022 atop quality of life updates to games in the BioShock series, which gave the player the ability to buy add on content for games. The addition of the launcher was criticized as it broke these games on Linux, including on the Steam Deck. [54] Future releases from 2K also used the launcher, and in the case of Marvel's Midnight Suns, players discovered the launcher was impacting the game's performance. [55]
By August 2024, 2K began to phase out the launcher, removing it from Civilization VI and assuring it would not be used in Civilization VII. [56] On November 18, 2024, 2K removed the launcher from every game that still had it on both Steam and Epic Games' storefronts. [57] [58]
Firaxis Games, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Sparks, Maryland. The company was founded in May 1996 by Sid Meier, Jeff Briggs and Brian Reynolds following their departure from MicroProse, Meier's earlier venture. They were acquired by Take-Two Interactive in August 2005, and subsequently became part of the publisher's 2K label. Firaxis Games is best known for developing the Civilization and XCOM series, as well as many other games bearing Meier's name.
Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in New York City founded by Ryan Brant in September 1993.
Visual Concepts Entertainment is an American video game developer based in Novato, California. Founded in May 1988, the company is best known for developing sports games in the 2K franchise, most recently NBA 2K and WWE 2K, and previously NFL 2K. Visual Concepts was acquired by Sega in May 1999 and sold to Take-Two Interactive in January 2005. The acquisition of the company led Take-Two Interactive to open their 2K label which Visual Concepts became part of, on the day following the acquisition. As of December 2018, the company employs more than 350 people.
The Codemasters Software Company Limited is a British video game developer and former publisher based in Southam, England, which is a subsidiary of American corporation Electronic Arts and managed under the EA Sports division. Founded by brothers Richard and David Darling in October 1986, Codemasters is one of the oldest British game studios, and in 2005 was named the best independent video game developer by magazine Develop. It formerly also published third-party games.
Irrational Games was an American video game developer founded in 1997 by three former employees of Looking Glass Studios: Ken Levine, Jonathan Chey, and Robert Fermier. Take-Two Interactive acquired the studio in 2006. The studio was best known for two of the games in the BioShock series, as well as System Shock 2, Freedom Force, and SWAT 4. In 2014, following the release of BioShock Infinite, Levine opted to significantly restructure the studio from around 90 to 15 employees and focus more on narrative games. In February 2017, the studio announced that it had been rebranded as Ghost Story Games and considered a fresh start from the original Irrational name, though still operating at the same business subsidiary under Take-Two.
Access Software, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Founded in November 1982 by Bruce Carver and Chris Jones, the company created the Beach Head, Links and Tex Murphy series, as well as Raid over Moscow. Access Software was acquired by Microsoft in April 1999, transitioning in name twice before being acquired by Take-Two Interactive in October 2004, receiving the name Indie Built. In January 2005, Access Software became part of Take-Two's 2K label. Following a poor financial performance at Take-Two, Indie Built was closed down in May 2006.
HB Studios Multimedia Limited is a Canadian video game developer based in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. It is best known for its rugby and cricket games.
2K Los Angeles was an American video game developer based in Camarillo, California. Founded by Umrao Mayer in 1998, the company was part of Visual Concepts, which itself was a part of Sega. Both Kush Games and Visual Concepts were sold to Take-Two Interactive and subsequently became part of their new 2K label. Kush Games was renamed 2K Los Angeles in February 2007 before being shut down in 2008.
PopTop Software Inc. was an American video game developer based in Fenton, Missouri. The company was founded in 1993 by Phil Steinmeyer, acquired by Take-Two Interactive in July 2000, became part of the 2K label in January 2005, and was closed down in March 2006. It was known for its construction and management simulation games.
Cat Daddy Games is an American video game developer and a studio of 2K based in Kirkland, Washington. It was founded in the Seattle area by Ryan Haveson, Harley Howe, and Patrick Wilkinson after leaving Microsoft's games division in March 1996. During their time at Microsoft, they compiled a list of features they wanted to see in a game, and upon forming Cat Daddy Games, started developing Demon Isle, an action-adventure game. In Q2 2003, Cat Daddy Games was acquired by Take-Two Interactive and became an internal development studio for Take-Two's Global Star Software label. On September 10, 2007, Take-Two Interactive announced the opening of 2K Play, a new sub-label for its 2K division, which consumed all assets of Global Star Software, including Cat Daddy Games.
TDK Mediactive was the brand name used by Japanese company TDK as a media subsidiary in Europe, and as a video game publishing subsidiary in North America.
Venom Games Limited was a British video game developer based in Gateshead, England. The studio was established by Peter Johnson in 2003 and succeeded Rage Newcastle. Take-Two Interactive acquired the company in 2004, where it became part of the 2K label in 2005 and was closed down in July 2008.
2K Marin, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Novato, California. Founded in December 2007 as a spin-off from their parent, 2K, the company developed BioShock 2 (2010) and The Bureau: XCOM Declassified (2013) before laying off or relocating all staff in October 2013 and silently being closed.
Hangar 13 is an American video game developer based in Novato, California, in the area of the former Hamilton Air Force Base. Established with Haden Blackman in December 2014 as a division of 2K, the company's debut game was Mafia III, released in October 2016. In 2017, 2K Czech was merged into Hangar 13, wherefore the studio received two additional studios in Brno and Prague; another studio was opened in Brighton in 2018. Their second title, Mafia: Definitive Edition, was released in September 2020. Their third title, TopSpin 2K25, was released in April 2024.
Private Division is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The company was founded by Take-Two Interactive and announced in December 2017. Private Division funds and publishes indie games developed by small to mid-sized studios. This includes taking over Kerbal Space Program publishing and releasing titles from Obsidian Entertainment, Panache Digital Games, and V1 Interactive.
Cloud Chamber is an American video game developer based in Novato, California, with a studio in Montréal, Québec. Founded by Kelley Gilmore on December 9, 2019, as a division of 2K, the company is developing the next entry in the BioShock series.
Christoph Hartmann is a German-American video game executive and vice president of Amazon Games at Amazon. Before assuming leadership of Amazon Games in 2018, he was president and co-founder of video game publisher 2K.