 | |
| Formerly | 2K Silicon Valley (2019–2020) |
|---|---|
| Company type | Division |
| Founded | February 4, 2019 |
| Founder | Michael Condrey |
| Headquarters | , US |
Number of locations | 2 studios (2021) |
Key people | Michael Condrey |
| Parent | 2K |
| Website | thirtyfirstunion |
31st Union is a video game development studio of 2K based in San Mateo, California, with a studio in Valencia, Spain. It was founded in February 2019, then provisionally named 2K Silicon Valley, with Sledgehammer Games co-founder Michael Condrey as its lead. [1]
2K announced in February 2020 that the studio was officially named 31st Union, a nod to its San Francisco Bay Area roots and based on California being the 31st state to join the United States. Condrey said in the announcement that the studio's ideals reflected the diversity of California's and Silicon Valley's spirit of innovation in art, technology, and entertainment and cultural representation. [2] Condrey had committed to establishing the culture of this studio on its founding, calling it "a clean canvas", and stressed the importance of diversity [3] in the creative process. [4] In addition to the new branding, 2K also announced plans to open a second studio for 31st Union in Spain. [2]
The current Silicon Valley studio, in addition to Condrey, includes several dozen former Call of Duty / Sledgehammer Games and Dead Space / Visceral Games developers. [2] The studio, as of February 2020, was working on a "ambitious and inspired new IP", [5] and which was to be revealed within 2020, according to 2K. [6]
Michael Chu, previously the narrative director for Blizzard Entertainment's Overwatch , joined 31st Union in July 2020 as their narrative director. [7]
On November 9, 2021, 2K acquired Elite3D, rebranding it as a 31st Union studio and a 2K Publishing arm. [8]
On January 19 2024, it was reported that 31st Union had let go a small number of employees. The company confirmed it had laid off "less than 10" employees. [9]
On October 17 2024, 31st Union and 2K announced Project Ethos, a free-to-play roguelike hero third-person shooter, for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. [10]
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher based in Irvine, California. A subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, the company was founded in February 1991 as Silicon & Synapse, Inc. by three graduates of the University of California, Los Angeles: Michael Morhaime, Frank Pearce and Allen Adham. The company originally concentrated on the creation of game ports for other studios' games before beginning development of their own software in 1993, with games like Rock n' Roll Racing and The Lost Vikings. In 1993, the company became Chaos Studios, Inc., and then Blizzard Entertainment soon after being acquired by distributor Davidson & Associates early in the following year. Shortly after, Blizzard released Warcraft: Orcs & Humans.
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