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| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 2000 |
| Founders |
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| Headquarters | Los Gatos, California |
| Products | City of Heroes Champions Online Star Trek Online Neverwinter |
Number of employees | 136 (2021) [1] |
| Parent |
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| Website | www |
Cryptic Studios is an American video game developer specializing in massively multiplayer online role-playing games. It is headquartered in Los Gatos, California, and was a wholly owned Perfect World subsidiary, [2] and is now owned by Embracer Group. [3] [4]
Established in June 2000, Michael Lewis and Rick Dakan conceived the idea for Cryptic Studios. "Rick and I wanted to do an online role-playing game," Lewis told the Los Gatos Weekly Times in January 2007. "We'd been role-playing gamers growing up, and thought that online would be a great way to continue that experience, while overcoming the distances involved. We decided that there were too many fantasy games in development—this was 1999, so we discussed many alternatives. Superheroes quickly rose to the top of the list. It is something people could understand and identify with quickly, versus ideas like science fiction or horror, because it provides an infinite background on which to create adventures of all kinds. And who doesn't want to have super powers?" [5]
At a New Year's party in 1999, Lewis and Dakan met Bruce Rogers, Matt Harvey and Cameron Petty, veterans of Atari Games, who had begun trying to found a computer game company but lacked funding. In 2000, Lewis sold his company, Stellar Semiconductor, Inc., to Broadcom Corporation. With Lewis' funding and Rogers' expertise, the group formed Cryptic Studios. Role-playing game writer Jack Emmert joined the team to work on game design. In March 2007, Cryptic Studios moved to a larger corporate headquarters in Los Gatos, California. Plans for the new headquarters include adding a state-of-the-art sound studio to be built by the Walters-Storyk Design Group. [6] At that time the company also adopted a new corporate logo.
On December 9, 2008, Atari, SA announced that it had acquired Cryptic Studios. [7] In March 2010, Bill Roper was promoted to Chief Creative Officer, succeeding Emmert (who became the Chief Operations Officer), but left the studio in August that same year. [8] In March 2011, Jack Emmert was promoted to chief executive officer when John Needham left to pursue other opportunities in the gaming industry. [9] On May 17, 2011, Atari announced the divesting of its interest in Cryptic Studios. [10] On May 31, 2011, it was announced that Perfect World had acquired Cryptic Studios. [11] On April 25, 2012, Cryptic Studios announced that the security of one of its user databases was compromised as far back as December 2010. [12] In June 2017, the company was announced to be creating a Magic: The Gathering game for consoles and PC.
In December 2021, Swedish holding company Embracer Group announced that it would acquire the North American and publishing arms of Perfect World Entertainment from Perfect World Europe through its Gearbox Software subsidiary. [13] Following the acquisition, Perfect World Entertainment was dissolved into Gearbox Publishing. Cryptic will continue operations as a subsidiary of The Gearbox Entertainment Company. [14] Cryptic Studios now has over 100 employees. [15]
In November 2023, restructuring efforts at Embracer Group led to layoffs at Cryptic Studios and Embracer announced that the studio will now be operating under DECA Games going forward. [16] In March 2024, it was announced that DECA Games would be taking over direct development of Cryptic's current titles, with Cryptic transitioning into a support role. [17] In March 2024, Embracer sold Gearbox to an external investor but announced it would retain several related studios, including Cryptic Studios. [18]
In early 2002, Cryptic signed a publishing agreement for City of Heroes with NCSoft, which wanted to expand into the United States gaming market. [19] Cryptic Studios' first MMORPG, City of Heroes , was launched on April 28, 2004. On October 31, 2005, it launched City of Villains , a separate game that was linked with City of Heroes through player versus player combat zones. As of November 2007 [update] , Cryptic Studios had released ten free expansions for City of Heroes and City of Villains. On November 6, 2007, Cryptic announced that it had sold the City of Heroes/City of Villains intellectual property to NCSoft. All of the City of Heroes/City of Villains development team transitioned to work under NCSoft under the working title NCNorCal (NCNC), which later became the NCSoft-owned subsidiary, Paragon Studios, which ceased operation when NCSoft closed the game on August 31, 2012.
On September 27, 2006, Marvel Entertainment and Cryptic announced that Cryptic Studios was developing Marvel Universe Online, the Marvel universe MMO video game to be published by Microsoft Game Studios for exclusive release to Windows Vista (and Xbox 360, which was later cancelled in March 2010). [20] On February 7, 2008, Shane Kim of Microsoft Game Studios reported that MUO was canceled. [21] Cryptic Studios said development would continue using a new IP license of The Champions and became Champions Online. Cryptic Studios released Champions Online, loosely based on a superhero-based role-playing game, on September 1, 2009. Cryptic Studios had announced this title on February 14, 2008. It has, of February 2011, implemented a free-to-play model with optional micropayment transactions generating revenue, in addition to its traditional subscription system.
On July 27, 2008, Cryptic announced that they had acquired the license to continue development of a Star Trek based MMORPG previously developed by Perpetual Entertainment. Earlier, on March 13, 2008, Star Trek news site TrekMovie.com reported Cryptic Studios as the developer for Star Trek Online based on unnamed sources, confirming a several-weeks-old rumor. [22] Star Trek Online was officially launched on February 2, 2010. The game resembles an action-oriented MMORPG, with combat and features divided between Space environments and Ground environments during play.
In late August 2010, Atari and Cryptic announced the development of Neverwinter, a Dungeons & Dragons MMORPG. Neverwinter was released on PC in 2013, [23] [24] Xbox One in 2015, and PlayStation 4 in 2016.
On June 7, 2017, Cryptic announced their new project, an MMORPG based on Magic: The Gathering . [25] [26] It was later revealed under the name Magic: Legends .
It was announced on June 29, 2021, that the game would shut down on October 31, 2021, before the end of its open beta.
On May 9, 2007, Cryptic Studios released the Cryptic Animation Rig (Cryptic AR), a free download that gives animators the same tools used by Cryptic to animate characters in its games. Cryptic Studios' website contains several images of concept art from one or more additional games currently in development. [27]
Nimble Giant Entertainment, SA is an Argentine video game developer located in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The studio was acquired by Saber Interactive in 2020.
NCSoft Corporation is a South Korean video game developer and publisher headquartered in Pangyo, Seongnam, South Korea, primarily known for the distribution of massively multiplayer online role-playing games such as Lineage and Guild Wars.
City of Heroes (CoH) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game originally created by Cryptic Studios prior to the IP’s acquisition by NCSoft. Previously developed by the now-defunct Paragon Studios, it is currently developed by Homecoming Servers under a limited license from NCSoft. The game was launched in North America on April 28, 2004, and in Europe by NCsoft Europe on February 4, 2005, with English, German and French servers. In the game, players created super-powered player characters that could team up with others to complete missions and fight criminals belonging to various gangs and organizations in the fictional Paragon City.
Star Trek Online is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by Cryptic Studios based on the Star Trek franchise. The game is set in the 25th century, 30 years after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis. Star Trek Online is the first massively multiplayer online role-playing game within the Star Trek franchise and was released for Microsoft Windows in February 2010. At launch, the game required a game purchase and a recurring monthly fee. In January 2012, it relaunched with a tier of free-to-play access available. After a public beta testing period, a version of the game was released for OS X in March 2014. Due to technical issues with the port, support for OS X ended in February 2016. It was later released on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in September 2016. The game has received several expansions since release and has gotten mixed reviews from critics.
Gearbox Software, L.L.C is an American video game development company based in Frisco, Texas. It was established as a limited liability company in February 1999 by five developers formerly of Rebel Boat Rocker. Randy Pitchford, one of the founders, serves as president and chief executive officer. Gearbox initially created expansions for the Valve game Half-Life, then ported that game and others to console platforms. In 2005, Gearbox launched its first independent set of games, Brothers in Arms, on console and mobile devices. It became their flagship franchise and spun off a comic book series, television documentary, books, and action figures. Their second original game series, Borderlands, commenced in 2009, and by 2015 had sold over 26 million copies. The company also owns the intellectual property of Duke Nukem and Homeworld.
Perpetual Entertainment, founded in March 2002, was an American developer, publisher and operator of networked multiplayer games and MMORPGs. Their headquarters was located in San Francisco, California, United States. From October 2007 to February 2008 the company was known as P2 Entertainment. The company was best known for its development of two MMOs: Star Trek Online and Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising.
The history of massively multiplayer online games spans over thirty years and hundreds of massively multiplayer online games (MMOG) titles. The origin and influence on MMO games stems from MUDs, Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) and earlier social games.
Perfect World Co., Ltd. is a Chinese mass media company based in Beijing. It was founded in 2004 by Chi Yufeng. The company consists of two business segments: Perfect World Games, a video game publisher, and Perfect World Pictures, a film production company.
Champions Online is a free-to-play superhero-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Cryptic Studios. The game is based on the Champions license and its ruleset is loosely based on the HERO System The Game has been released on Steam and Microsoft Windows.
Arc Games, is a video game publisher. Founded in 2008 as the North American branch of the Chinese company Perfect World, they currently operate their former parent company's titles outside China as well as publishing various video games.
TERA, also known as TERA Online, is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Bluehole Studio, a subsidiary of Krafton. The game was released in South Korea on 25 January 2011, in North America on 1 May 2012, and in Europe on 3 May 2012, with closed and open beta tests taking place before the launch dates. Nexon, Krafton, and Gameforge published the game in these regions, respectively. En Masse Entertainment was the North American publisher, until September 2020, while Atari handled physical distribution. In February 2013 the game was renamed to TERA: Rising concurrently with the game's launch to the free-to-play model.
Paragon Studios was a video game developer, and wholly owned subsidiary of NCsoft. Founded in November 2007 as NCsoft NorCal, the studio's remit was to further develop the City of Heroes and City of Villains franchises following the acquisition of the titles by NCsoft from Cryptic Studios. In April 2009, NCsoft NorCal was rebranded as Paragon Studios. On August 31, 2012, it was announced by the studio that: "NCsoft has made the decision to close Paragon Studios. Effective immediately, all development on City of Heroes will cease and we will begin preparations to sunset the MMORPG before the end of the year." City of Heroes shut down on November 30, 2012, ending the studio's existence.
Neverwinter is a free-to-play massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by Cryptic Studios for Microsoft Windows in 2013, Xbox One in 2015, and PlayStation 4 in 2016. Based on the fictional Forgotten Realms city of Neverwinter from Dungeons & Dragons, Neverwinter is a standalone game and not part of the previous Neverwinter Nights series.
Trion Worlds was an American video game developer. It focused primarily on MMOs, particularly of the MMORPG and MMORTS genres. The company was founded in 2006 by Lars Buttler and Jon Van Caneghem, who had each previously worked for NCSoft and left in 2009 to join Electronic Arts.
Carbine Studios, Inc. was a video game developer and subsidiary of NCSOFT, founded in 2005 by former members of Blizzard Entertainment. They were the developers of the online role-playing game WildStar.
Jack Emmert is an American game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games and computer games.
Embracer Group AB is a Swedish video game and media holding company based in Karlstad. The company comprises 9 operative groups: Amplifier Game Invest, Asmodee, CDE Entertainment, Coffee Stain, Dark Horse Media, Deca Games, Freemode, Plaion, and THQ Nordic.
Magic: Legends was an action role-playing video game based on the Magic: The Gathering collectible card game. It was developed by Cryptic Studios and published by Perfect World Entertainment. The game began an open beta for Microsoft Windows in March 2021, with plans for open release later that year as a free-to-play title on Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The game's development ceased and the servers were shut down on October 31 of the same year.
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