 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 2006 |
| Headquarters | , Italy |
| Parent | Digital Bros |
| Subsidiaries |
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| Website | 505games |
505 Games S.p.A. is an Italian video game publisher based in Milan. [1] It was founded in 2006 as a subsidiary of Milan-based Digital Bros.
505 Games was founded in 2006 in Milan as a subsidiary of Digital Bros. [2] The company found its early success through its video games such as Cooking Mama and Zumba Fitness . [3]
In April 2012, 505 Games took over publishing duties from THQ for the fitness game Adidas MiCoach, following a lawsuit between THQ and Adidas. [4] In April 2013, they acquired the license of Drawn To Life series. The purchase included rights to the franchise as a whole. [5] In November 2013, it canceled Ashes Cricket 2013 and issued refunds. [6] In April 2014, 505 Games announced a publishing agreement with Adam Orth's Three One Zero of the game Adrift . The game is described as a first-person experience, where the player controls an astronaut exploring debris of a wrecked station in outer space. [7] In January 2015, 505 Games confirmed the acquisition of the intellectual property (IP) rights to the multi-award-winning Game of the Year 2013, [8] Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons from Starbreeze Studios. [9] In April 2015, 505 Games announced a publishing agreement with Swedish game developer Starbreeze for the game Overkill's The Walking Dead , which released in late 2018. [10] A month later, 505 Games announced a publishing agreement with game developer Overkill Software for the game Payday 2 Crimewave Edition. [11] In August 2016, 505 Games announced it would be publishing Virginia from Variable State. [12]
In March 2015, 505 Games purchased 2.67% stock of Swedish game developer Starbreeze Studios. [13] In January 2016, 505 Games announced that they will shift their focus from publishing games for other developers to developing their own intellectual properties. [14] In October 2016, 505 Games has announced through Koji Igarashi, their collaboration in publishing Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night from Igarashi's own ArtPlay, DICO and Inti Creates, though Inti's involvement has been reduced. [15] At the Sony E3 press conference on 11 June 2018, 505 Games announced a partnership with Remedy Entertainment to publish Control . [16]
505 Games acquired Australia-based Infinity Plus Two, the developers of the Puzzle Quest games in January 2021. [17]
505 Games is working with Rabbit and Bear Studios to publish Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes , a spiritual successor to the Suikoden series. The partnership was announced February 2021. [18]
On 27 June 2022 D3 Go! was acquired by 505 Games. The acquisition also included the intellectual property of the Puzzle Quest games. [19] [20]
In November 2023, 505 Games parent company Digital Bros announced plans to lay off about 30% of its global workforce—around 130 employees. [21] Job cuts continued into 2024, when 505 Games closed offices in Germany, Spain, and France. [22] [23]
In February 2024, 505 Games sold the IP rights to Control back to developer Remedy Entertainment for €17 million. 505 Games will remain as publisher through the end of 2024. [24]
Games published by 505 Games include Sniper Elite III , Payday 2 , Assetto Corsa , Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons , Terraria , Redout , How to Survive , Defense Grid 2 , Deep Black , Abzû , Adrift , Virginia , Dead by Daylight , Control , Unturned , Indivisible , and the PC and Xbox Series X/S release of Death Stranding . [25] [26] [12] [27] [28]
In April 2015, 505 Games was awarded the title of Best Indie Games Label at the MCV Awards. [29]
Xbox Game Studios is an American video game publisher based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, spun out from an internal Games Group, for the development and publishing of video games for Microsoft Windows. It has since expanded to include games and other interactive entertainment for the namesake Xbox platforms, other desktop operating systems, Windows Mobile and other mobile platforms, web-based portals, and other game consoles.
IO Interactive A/S (IOI) is a Danish video game developer based in Copenhagen, best known for creating and developing the Hitman and Kane and Lynch franchises. IO Interactive's most recent game is Hitman 3, which was released in January 2021.
Remedy Entertainment Oyj, trading internationally as Remedy Entertainment Plc, is a Finnish video game developer based in Espoo. Notable games the studio has developed include the first two entries in the Max Payne franchise, Alan Wake, Quantum Break and Control. Sam Lake, Remedy's creative director, has represented the company on numerous occasions.
Starbreeze AB is a Swedish video game developer and publisher based in Stockholm. The studios's notable games developed include The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, Payday 2 and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. Founded by members of the demogroup Triton, the company was merged with O3 Games in 2001 and the parent group was renamed to Starbreeze in late 2002. The company produced titles including Enclave and Knights of the Temple: Infernal Crusade. In the early 2000s, cancellations of their projects due to conflicts with publishers and a failed acquisition led to a severe financial crisis, resulting in staff lay-offs during the development of Starbreeze's fourth game, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay. This game received critical acclaim and helped Starbreeze establish a reputation for producing high-quality games. The company worked on The Darkness, whose sales were considered satisfactory.
Deep Silver is an Austrian video game publisher and a division of Plaion.
Behaviour Interactive Inc. is a Canadian video game developer and publisher based in Montreal. The studio is best known for the multiplayer horror game Dead by Daylight.
Infinity Plus Two, previously Infinite Interactive, is a video game developer with headquarters in St Kilda, Victoria, Australia. The company was founded by Steve Fawkner in 1989. After a long alliance with SSG, resulting in the development of the Warlords series of games, Steve moved on to make Infinite totally independent in 2003. Infinite Interactive was one of the first developers to port a full custom game engine to the iPhone in 2009. However due to Publisher issues it was not until much later that any properties were released on the iOS platform. In 2011, the company was acquired by fellow Australian developers Firemint, creators of Flight Control and Real Racing - however, in late 2012 Infinite Interactive announced their return as an independent developer.
Plaion GmbH is an Austrian media company headquartered in Höfen, Tyrol, with additional offices in Planegg, Germany. It was founded in 1994 by Franz Koch and Klemens Kundratitz. The company operates video game publishing labels Deep Silver, Prime Matter and Ravenscourt, the video game developers Warhorse Studios and Milestone, as well as a film distribution arm, Plaion Pictures. Koch Media's parent company, Koch Media Holding, was acquired by Swedish holding company Embracer Group in February 2018.
Team17 Group plc is a British video game developer and publisher based in Wakefield, England. The venture was created in December 1990 through the merger of British publisher 17-Bit Software and Swedish developer Team 7. At the time, the two companies consisted of and were led by Michael Robinson, Martyn Brown and Debbie Bestwick, and Andreas Tadic, Rico Holmes and Peter Tuleby, respectively. Bestwick later became Team17's chief executive officer until 1 January 2024. After their first game, Full Contact (1991) for the Amiga, the studio followed up with multiple number-one releases on that platform and saw major success with Andy Davidson's Worms in 1995, the resulting franchise of which still remains as the company's primary development output, having developed over 20 entries in it.
THQ Nordic GmbH is an Austrian video game publisher based in Vienna. Formed in 2011, it is a publishing subsidiary of Embracer Group. Originally named Nordic Games, as was the parent company, both companies were renamed THQ Nordic in August 2016 after the parent company had acquired the "THQ" trademark in 2014.
Payday 2 is a cooperative first-person shooter video game developed by Overkill Software and published by 505 Games. The game is a sequel to 2011's Payday: The Heist. It was released in August 2013 for Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. An enhanced version of the game, subtitled Crimewave Edition, was released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in June 2015 and for the Nintendo Switch in February 2018.
Overkill Software is a Swedish video game developer based and founded in Stockholm in 2009 by Ulf Andersson, Bo Andersson, the founders and owners of defunct game developer Grin, along with Simon Viklund. In 2012, Swedish game studio Starbreeze Studios acquired Overkill. The company is known for their Payday series, consisting of Payday: The Heist, Payday 2, and Payday 3.
Armature Studio, LLC is an American video game development studio in Austin, Texas. The studio, founded by former Retro Studios directors Mark Pacini, Todd Keller and Jack Mathews in September 2008, developed Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate (2013) and ReCore (2016).
Gamer Network Limited is a British digital media company based in London. Founded in 1999 by Rupert and Nick Loman, it owns brands—primarily editorial websites—relating to video game journalism and other video game businesses. Its flagship website, Eurogamer, was launched alongside the company. It began hosting the video game trade show EGX in 2008. ReedPop acquired Gamer Network in 2018 and sold it to IGN Entertainment in 2024.
Rollingmedia Limited was a British video game developer based in London. Founded in 2008 by Simon Bennett, Tom Hegarty, and John Ribbins, the company initially developed educational games on a contract basis before shifting to original intellectual properties in 2012. Roll7's OlliOlli, first released in 2014 for the PlayStation Vita, became highly successful and landed the company a publishing deal. Roll7 later developed OlliOlli2: Welcome to Olliwood (2015), Not a Hero (2015), and Laser League (2018). Since May 2015, all employees were remote workers. Roll7 became a subsidiary of Private Division since November 2021, until studio's closure in 2024.
Don't Nod Entertainment SA is a French video game developer and publisher based in Paris. Founded in June 2008, it started development on Remember Me (2013). Because of its poor return on investment, Don't Nod entered "judicial reorganisation" in 2013. With the help of French agency funding, it developed Life Is Strange, whose successful release raised Don't Nod's industry status. It began third-party publishing with Gerda: A Flame in Winter in 2022.
Overkill's The Walking Dead was a first-person shooter developed by Overkill Software and published by Starbreeze Studios and 505 Games. The title, based on the comics of The Walking Dead, has a strong emphasis on cooperative gameplay. The game was released worldwide for Windows in November 2018. On 26 February 2019, Skybound Entertainment terminated their contract with Starbreeze Studios, leading to the discontinuation of all efforts on the game, including cancellation of efforts to bring the game to consoles. Critical reception of the game was mixed, and it was a commercial failure.
Digital Bros is an Italian video game company that develops, publishes and distributes games. It publishes games under its 505 Games subsidiary brand since 2007 and established video game development school, Digital Bros Game Academy, in 2014. Digital Bros was founded in 1989 as Halifax and the name is still used for distribution.
Payday 3 is a cooperative first-person shooter game developed by Starbreeze Studios and published by Deep Silver. The game is a sequel to Payday 2, and is the third installment in the Payday series. It was released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on 21 September 2023. It received mixed reviews from critics and failed to meet the sales expectations of Embracer Group and Starbreeze.
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