Big Blue Bubble

Last updated

Big Blue Bubble
Company type Private
IndustryComputer and Video Games
Founded2004;20 years ago (2004)
FounderDamir Slogar
Headquarters London, Ontario, Canada and San Francisco, California, US
Key people
Claudette Critchley (CEO)
Products My Singing Monsters , My Singing Monsters: Dawn of Fire , Power Chord, Burn the Rope, Thumpies
Number of employees
51-200
Parent Enad Global 7 (2020–present)
Website bigbluebubble.com

Big Blue Bubble, Inc. is a Canadian video game company headquartered in London, Ontario founded in 2004 by industry veteran Damir Slogar, Renata Slogar, and Claudette Critchley. The company has developed over one hundred games and gained international recognition with its game My Singing Monsters which has been downloaded over 100 million times. Swedish company Enad Global 7 acquired Big Blue Bubble on August 27, 2020.

Contents

History

Early years (2004–2012)

Founded in 2004 by industry veteran Damir Slogar, along with co-founders Renata Slogar and Claudette Critchley. In the early days of its history, Big Blue Bubble made a name for itself by specializing in casual and mobile games. Its first game, Bubble Trouble, was used in marketing campaigns by Nokia and it was followed by the space thriller Captain Lunar, which was used as a launch title for the Sony Ericsson T610. Soon after, Big Blue Bubble began adapting film and television franchises, such as 24 for handheld devices. [1] In the mid to late 2000s, the company started moving towards console development, to include the Wii and PlayStation 2 platforms. [2]

Return to mobile (2010–2012)

In the early 2010s, Big Blue Bubble returned to its roots in mobile gaming and the 'freemium' business model. This return to mobile resulted in a shifting focus on original intellectual properties such as Burn the Rope, Thumpies, and most notably My Singing Monsters . [3]

Post-My Singing Monsters (2012–present)

Released on September 4, 2012, for Apple iOS, My Singing Monsters was both a critical and commercial success soon after its release, with Kotaku describing the game as a "clever combination of music and monster breeding", [4] praising how the complexity of a song can become developed by the utility of breeding Monsters, each monster revealing a new line to the song.  Through continued support, the game has grown into a multimedia franchise, with a prequel, several spin-off games, books, live events, series, and a board game.

After years in the mobile game space, Big Blue Bubble made the decision to return to console games with the development of the action-platformer, Foregone, a retro-pixel side-scrolling adventure that released on the Epic Games Store February 27, 2020, [5] and Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 on October 13, 2020. [6] On May 12, 2021, [7] Big Blue Bubble announced that the My Singing Monsters series would be releasing its first console title, called My Singing Monsters: Playground. The game was subsequently released on November 9, 2021. [8]

On August 26, 2020, Swedish company Enad Global 7 acquired Big Blue Bubble for $16M CAD, [9] alongside a debt-free payment of $60M CAD.[ citation needed ]

On January 26, 2023, Big Blue Bubble released a music-based roguelike deck-building game, Power Chord. [10]

On November 24, 2023, Big Blue Bubble was named one of Canada’s Most Admired Corporate Cultures. [11]

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References

  1. ↑ Levi Buchanan (March 3, 2006). "24: The Interview". IGN. Archived from the original on August 7, 2007. Retrieved November 29, 2007.
  2. ↑ "Q&A: Big Blue Bubble's Slogar On Moving From Mobile". Gamasutra. October 9, 2007.
  3. ↑ Chapple, Craig; Content, Head of (August 26, 2016). "My Singing Monsters developer Big Blue Bubble starts mobile publishing initiative". pocketgamer.biz. Retrieved December 6, 2023.
  4. ↑ "They Made A Sequel to My Singing Monsters. Tell My Kids I Love Them". Kotaku. September 30, 2015. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  5. ↑ "Foregone from Big Blue Bubble lands in early access at Epic Games Store". PC Invasion. February 27, 2020. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  6. ↑ Rathbone, Christine (October 14, 2020). "Big Blue Bubble Releases Foregone on Consoles and PC". TechAlliance. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  7. ↑ "My Singing Monsters Playground Launches This November, And Switch Is Getting A Physical Version". Nintendo Life. September 8, 2021. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  8. ↑ "Outrageously Fun Party Game My Singing Monsters Playground Springs ont". Game Developer. November 9, 2021. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  9. ↑ Barton, Seth (November 26, 2020). "EG7 to acquire two Canadian studios – Mechwarrior dev Piranha Games & My Singing Monsters dev Big Blue Bubble". MCV/Develop . Archived from the original on January 3, 2021. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  10. ↑ "The new game 'Power Chord' from Big Blue Bubble is released on Steam today". Enad Global 7. January 26, 2023. Retrieved January 26, 2023.
  11. ↑ "Announcing the 2023 Canada's Most Admired Corporate Cultures™, Canada's Most Admired CEO™, and Canada's Most Admired CPCO™ Winners".


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