Digital Jesters was a British video game publisher, based in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire. The company was founded in 2003 by veterans from CDV UK (after the UK office was shut by CDV), and their first UK-releases were TrackMania and Virtual Skipper 3, both by Nadeo.
In the beginning, they concentrated on the UK market only, but began publishing games in other regions as well. Notable releases included TrackMania Sunrise (UK & Scandinavia), Freedom Force vs. the Third Reich (UK & Scandinavia), the Pro Rugby Manager series (UK) and Chaos League (UK).
Despite a well publicised investment, [1] on 22 December 2005 a winding-up order was made against the company in the Birmingham District Registry of the UK High Court on the petition of Kaoscontrol Limited. [2] [3] This followed a period where the company was accused of withholding payments to various developers [4] they had worked with, resulting in some developers terminating contracts with the publisher. [5] Their website disappeared soon after.[ citation needed ]
The last game the company released was a racing game based on the Crazy Frog licence in November 2005.[ citation needed ]
A video game developer is a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large business with employee responsibilities split between individual disciplines, such as programmers, designers, artists, etc. Most game development companies have video game publisher financial and usually marketing support. Self-funded developers are known as independent or indie developers and usually make indie games.
Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game publisher based in Glen Cove, New York. Originally formed by Greg Fischbach, Robert Holmes and Jim Scoroposki out of an Oyster Bay storefront in 1987, the company established a worldwide development team through a series of acquisitions in the late 1990s and early 2000s. After poor financial returns in their 2003 fiscal year, Acclaim filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in September 2004. Properties owned by Acclaim were subsequently auctioned off to various parties.
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.
Introversion Software Limited is a British video game developer based in Walton-on-Thames, England.
Digital Chocolate, Inc. was a video game developer and publisher headquartered in San Mateo, California. It was founded in 2003 by Trip Hawkins, the founder of video game companies Electronic Arts and The 3DO Company. The company focused on developing games for Java ME-based mobile phones, iOS, and Microsoft Windows, and made some non-entertainment titles. Its marketing motto was Seize the minute.
The Codemasters Software Company Limited is a British video game developer based in Southam, England, which is a subsidiary of American corporation Electronic Arts and managed under its EA Sports division. Founded by brothers Richard and David Darling in October 1986, Codemasters is one of the oldest British game studios, and in 2005 was named the best independent video game developer by magazine Develop. It formerly also published third-party games.
TimeGate Studios was an American video game developer based in Sugar Land, Texas. The company, which was founded in 1998, released eight titles before closing in 2013.
Ascaron Entertainment was a video game developer based in Germany. Founded as Ascon by Holger Flöttmann in 1991 and later renamed in October 1996 due to the possible confusion with the Swiss company Ascom AG, the company produced titles primarily for the PC until it became insolvent in 2009.
CCP hf., doing business as CCP Games, is an Icelandic video game developer based in Reykjavík. Novator Partners and General Catalyst had previously collectively owned a majority stake in the company, and in September 2018, CCP was acquired by South Korean video game publisher Pearl Abyss for $425 million. CCP Games is best known for developing Eve Online, which was released in 2003 and has since been maintained.
Psygnosis Limited was a British video game developer and publisher headquartered at Wavertree Technology Park in Liverpool. Founded in 1984 by Ian Hetherington, Jonathan Ellis, and David Lawson, the company initially became known for well-received games on the Atari ST and Amiga. In 1993, it became a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) and began developing games for the original PlayStation. It later became a part of SCE Worldwide Studios. The company was the oldest and second largest development house within SCE's European stable of developers, and became best known for franchises such as Lemmings, Wipeout, Formula One, and Colony Wars.
SouthPeak Interactive Corporation, doing business as SouthPeak Games, was an American video game publisher based in Midlothian, Virginia. Founded on March 1, 1996, as a subsidiary of SAS Institute in Cary, North Carolina, it was sold and moved to Midlothian, Virginia in 2000, and became a public company in 2008. Also in 2008, the company acquired and closed Austin, Texas-based publisher Gamecock Media Group, and opened a separate digital distribution subsidiary 7Sixty in Grapevine, Texas in 2011. SouthPeak Games quietly disappeared from the public eye in July 2013.
Digital Reality Software Kft. was a Hungarian video game developer based in Budapest, Hungary. It was founded in 1991 as Amnesty Design, and started to work on their upcoming title, Reunion, which would be released in 1994 by Grandslam Video, for Amiga and MS-DOS. In 1997, leading up to the release of Imperium Galactica, the company changed its name to Digital Reality. In the following decade, games like Haegemonia: Legions of Iron, Platoon, SkyDrift and Desert Rats vs. Afrika Korps were produced, all to positive reception.
Larian Studios is a Belgian independent video game developer and publisher founded in 1996 by Swen Vincke. Headquartered in Ghent, Belgium, Larian focuses on developing role-playing video games but has previously worked on educational games and casino games. It is best known for developing the Divinity series and Baldur's Gate 3.
Jon Burton is a British video game designer, director, and programmer. He is the founder of development studio Traveller's Tales and its parent company TT Games.
In New Zealand, 67% of the population plays video games, 46% of video game players are female and the average age of a video game player is 34. New Zealanders spend an average of 88 minutes a day playing video games.
Black Forest Games GmbH is a German video game developer based in Offenburg. The company was founded in July 2012 by a team of 40 staff members, including chief executive officer Andreas Speer, previously employed by Spellbound Entertainment, which filed for insolvency earlier that year. As of August 2017, it is a subsidiary of THQ Nordic. As of January 2024, the company employs 55 people.
CDV Software Entertainment AG was a German publisher of video games founded 1989 in Karlsruhe. On 17 April 2000 cdv became a Frankfurt stock market traded company. In the beginning of the 2000s, CDV was the biggest German publisher in the German video game market. As of the 2006 annual financial statements, the company also reported balance sheet over-indebtedness of EUR 1.9 million, which is, however, covered by a subordinated loan taken out in 2005 in the amount of EUR 3.8 million. The company's financial position is based on a balance sheet of EUR 1.9 million. They opened a UK office in 2008. In 2010, VG247 reported that they filed for preliminary insolvency when SouthPeak Games failed to pay a settlement. After only a few employees were still working in the company and the share price had been tumbling for some time, CDV filed for bankruptcy on 12 April 2010.
Wild Earth is a safari video game and motion simulator ride by Super X Studios. The player photographs 30 types of animals as a photojournalist in Serengeti National Park. It was first released as an online video game in France on March 17, 2006, and in North America on April 24, 2006. Akella published the game for Microsoft Windows as Safari Photo Africa: Wild Earth on September 18, 2006, and Ubisoft published it as Wild Earth: Photo Safari in November 2006, while Xplosiv published it as Wild Earth: Africa on April 5, 2007. Majesco later published a Wii version, Wild Earth: African Safari, in 2008. The game was also installed as a motion simulator ride in multiple American zoos. It won several awards including the grand prize at the 2003 Independent Games Festival.