Pixelberry Studios

Last updated
Pixelberry Studios
Company type Subsidiary
IndustryGame Developer
FounderOliver Miao, Keith Emnett, Winston She
Headquarters
Mountain View, CA
,
United States
Parent Nexon (2017-2024)
Series Entertainment (2024–present)
Website pixelberrystudios.com

Pixelberry Studios is a mobile game development company based in Mountain View, California, United States. [1] Founded in 2013 by Oliver Miao, Keith Emnett, and Winston She, Pixelberry develops episodic narrative mobile games for Android and iOS, aiming to create "games with heart," [2] beginning with Surviving High School and Cause of Death , which deals with themes of bullying, eating disorders and capturing serial killers. [3] [4] Since then, the company has fully released three more mobile games: Hollywood U, High School Story and Choices: Stories You Play . [1] [5] [6] [7] [8]

Contents

History

Pixelberry launched Choices: Stories You Play in August 2016. [9] [10] [11] Like their previous games, Choices: Stories You Play is an interactive narrative game. [12] [13] In it, players can pick "choose your own adventure" stories or "books" across multiple literary genre such as romance, adventure, mystery, fantasy, and horror. [13] Each "book" is divided into "chapters", and chapters are released on a weekly basis. The player character is usually highly customizable, from skin tone to gender. [11] Since the shutdown of their other games, Choices is the flagship game and primary focus for the studio. [11] In November 2017, Pixelberry was acquired by Nexon. [14]

In 2020, a planned plot line in one of Choices' most popular titles was leaked, leading to fan backlash and further criticism of racial insensitivity in Choices stories. Pixelberry's CEO issued a personal apology and pledged $100,000 to Black Girls Code, the Black Writers Collective, and the Latinx Writers Collective. He also committed the company to enact more representative writing and hiring practices. [15] [11]

In 2022, Pixelberry launched a sister app to Choices, called StoryLoom which features creator-made, interactive stories. [16] On July 15, 2022, Pixelberry Studios announced that High School Story would have its servers permanently shut down on August 10, 2022. [17]

On January 22, 2024, Pixelberry announced it would shut down StoryLoom on February 29 and lay off 120 employees across multiple departments. [18] [19] [20] Pixelberry was acquired by Series Entertainment in July. [21]

References

  1. 1 2 "Mobile game takes a stand against cyberbullying". San Francisco Chronicle . Archived from the original on 19 September 2017. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  2. ↑ Strauss, Karsten. "Mobile Games With Heart? Pixelberry In 2015". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2018-04-26. Retrieved 2018-04-26.
  3. ↑ "Inside The Game: Why Oliver Miao almost left gaming". pocketgamer.biz. Archived from the original on 2018-04-26. Retrieved 2018-04-26.
  4. ↑ "After bullying, High School Story tackles body image and eating disorders". Polygon . Archived from the original on 14 June 2017. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  5. ↑ "Pixelberry Studios Tackles Teenagers' Body-Image Issues With A New Mobile Game". TechCrunch . Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  6. ↑ "16 percent of teens consider suicide before graduation. This quest is for them". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on 24 September 2017. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  7. ↑ Priestman, Chris. "Ex-EA devs add cyberbullying-themed quests to High School Story to teach players how to deal with the issue themselves". Pocket Gamer . Archived from the original on 13 October 2017. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  8. ↑ Ray, Somdyuti Datta. "Pixelberry's 'Choices' Was the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Escape I Needed". Wired. ISSN   1059-1028 . Retrieved 2024-10-16.
  9. ↑ "Choices on Twitter". 2016-08-04. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
  10. ↑ "Choices on Twitter". 2016-08-17. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Ray, Somdyuti Datta. "Pixelberry's 'Choices' Was the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Escape I Needed". Wired. ISSN   1059-1028. Archived from the original on 2023-07-29. Retrieved 2023-07-29.
  12. ↑ "Cause of Death". Facebook. 2016-08-17. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
  13. 1 2 "Choices, the new storytelling game from Pixelberry Studios, is a positive visual novel game with questionable intentions". kastorskorner.com. 2016-09-12. Archived from the original on 2018-04-23. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
  14. ↑ "Nexon acquires High School Story developer Pixelberry Studios". VentureBeat. 2017-11-10. Archived from the original on 2018-04-26. Retrieved 2018-04-26.
  15. ↑ "Representation at Pixelberry". 15 June 2020. Archived from the original on 2023-07-31. Retrieved 2023-07-31.
  16. ↑ "Pixelberry Studios Launches StoryLoom Out of Beta to Give Interactive Content Creators Publishing Freedom". Business Wire. October 4, 2023.
  17. ↑ "High School Story and Hollywood U - The Final Sunset". Pixelberry Studios. 2022-07-15. Retrieved 2024-03-04.
  18. ↑ "2024 Studio Update". Pixelberry Studios. 2024-01-22. Retrieved 2024-03-04.
  19. ↑ Kerr, Chris (January 17, 2024). "Nexon-owned mobile studio Pixelberry is conducting layoffs". www.gamedeveloper.com. Retrieved 2024-03-04.
  20. ↑ Patel, Devon J. (February 9, 2024). "Santa Clara County game developer slashes 120 jobs as tech layoffs continue". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2024-03-04.
  21. ↑ Blake, Vikki (2024-07-10). "Series Entertainment acquires mobile game studio Pixelberry Studios". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 2024-07-11.
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