History
The company was formed in January 1999 by Steve Bergenholtz, the co-founder of Utopia Technologies. [1] In November 1999, they opened up a development studio in London, Ontario. [2]
In April 2000, the company opened up a partnership program for independent developers. [3]
In April 2001, Digital Illusions CE announced that they had acquired and merged the assets of Sandbox Studios into a newly formed subsidiary, Digital Illusions North America. [4] [5] The newly-formed division allowed DICE to form its own development, production and sales in the North American market, and added 50 employees to DICE's staff amounting to 150 total employees. [6] Later on, Fredrik Liljegren, who co-founded the original parent company, would join DICE Canada as its studio manager. [7]
Under its new name, DICE Canada continued its focus on the family-friendly market. In May 2001, Digital Illusions signed a publishing deal with Knowledge Adventure and its parent company Vivendi Universal Interactive Publishing to develop games based on popular children's toy properties. [8] [9] A similar deal was made with TDK Mediactive in December 2002 for a game based on The Land Before Time franchise. [10]
By 2005, the studio was restructured to work on expansion packs and spin-offs of existing DICE properties. [11]
In March 2006, Electronic Arts announced that they would acquire all outstanding shares in DICE. [12] After the acquisition was completed, EA announced on 5 October that they would close Digital Illusions Canada [13] with its remaining employees transferring to DICE's main offices in Stockholm, EA Canada or other EA studios. [14] Other employees, including DICE co-founder Fredrik Liljegren, opened up a successor studio named RedJade on 16 October, using the name of a company Liljegren used when he previously left DICE. [15]
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