Ready at Dawn

Last updated

Ready At Dawn Studios LLC
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Video game industry
Founded2003
FounderRu Weerasuriya
Andrea Pessino
Didier Malenfant
DefunctAugust 7, 2024 (2024-08-07)
FateClosed
Headquarters Irvine, California, United States
Number of locations
2 studios (2018)
Key people
Ru Weerasuriya (CCO)
Andrea Pessino (CTO)
Products Daxter
God of War series
Lone Echo series
Number of employees
20+
Parent Oculus Studios (2020–2024)
Website readyatdawn.com

Ready At Dawn Studios LLC (RAD) was an American video game developer located in Irvine, California, and is composed of former members of Naughty Dog [1] and Blizzard Entertainment. [2] Formed in 2003, the company was closely affiliated with Sony Computer Entertainment, developing games in the God of War series and Daxter . Ready At Dawn had a satellite campus in Portland, Oregon, to assist with future PC and console game development, but closed the office in 2022 as they adapted a hybrid work model. The studio was acquired by Oculus Studios as of June 2020. On August 7, 2024, Ready at Dawn was closed by Reality Labs (formerly Oculus Studios). [3]

Contents

History

Ready At Dawn was founded in 2003 in Irvine, California, United States by Ru Weerasuriya, Andrea Pessino, Didier Malenfant, and former members of the Sony Computer Entertainment subsidiary Naughty Dog. [1] They released their first game, Daxter , in 2006. The company finished working on their second PSP game, God of War: Chains of Olympus [4] as well as a Wii port of Ōkami , with added motion controls. [5] In June 2008 it was confirmed that the company had ceased developing games for the PSP, and that they had returned the relevant development kits to Sony. [6] However, reports claim that the developer received new development kits after returning. Their next game was God of War: Ghost of Sparta , collaboratively developed with Santa Monica Studio for the PSP, with their new proprietary engine. Ready At Dawn released the God of War: Origins Collection for the PlayStation 3 on September 13, 2011. This collection is a port of their two God of War games for the PSP, Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta, to the PS3 with high-definition graphics, DualShock 3 support, Trophies, and Stereoscopic 3D, the first God of War release to support this feature.

In October 2009, Ready At Dawn began working on a new game engine. The Ready At Dawn Engine is said to be a wholly console-centric platform, integrated with a suite of third-party tools that require no additional license. These tools include 3D content editing, audio, user interface, and asset management systems. [7] In July 2010, it was announced that Ready At Dawn had made thirteen employees redundant, citing difficulties in finding funding between projects behind the redundancies. [8] In early 2012, the company began hiring for the development of a third-person action-adventure game for a "next generation home console game system." [9] Ready At Dawn and Sony later revealed the game at E3 2013 as The Order: 1886 .

In June 2015, Ru Weerasuriya, the founder of the company, announced that his position as CEO will be replaced by Paul Sams and will step down to become the company's president and chief creative officer. [10]

In April 2017, Ready At Dawn was in attendance at the large Chinese game publisher, Tencent’s UP Conference, this was to announce a partnership to bring Ready At Dawn games into China. This partnership was headlined by bringing the game Deformers to China, although it was short lived due to the Deformers servers being shut down in August 2018.

In July 2017, Ready At Dawn released Lone Echo and Echo Arena [11] exclusively for the Oculus Rift. Echo Arena has since been included in the VR League, [12] a VR esports segment of ESL, since Season 1. In November 2018, Ready At Dawn released Echo Combat, [13] a first-person shooter DLC using the same zero-g movement found in Echo Arena, and announced that the company had opened a satellite studio in Portland, Oregon. [14] It is to be believed that this new satellite studio is a part of the development of Ready At Dawn’s new project that was teased back in February 2018.

In June 2020, Oculus Studios, under Meta Platforms, acquired Ready At Dawn to develop VR titles for the platform. [15]

In January 2023, Ready At Dawn announced they would be shutting down Echo VR (Echo Arena & Echo Combat) on August 1, 2023, to focus on future projects. [16]

In April 2023, the studio was hit by layoffs, which resulted in roughly a third of the employees being laid off. [17]

In August 2024, the studio was closed. [3]

Games developed

Game titleNorth American release datePlatformMetacritic score
Daxter March 14, 2006 PlayStation Portable 85/100 [18]
God of War: Chains of Olympus March 4, 200891/100 [19]
Ōkami April 15, 2008 Wii 90/100 [20]
God of War: Ghost of Sparta November 2, 2010PlayStation Portable86/100 [21]
God of War: Origins Collection September 13, 2011 PlayStation 3 84/100 [22]
The Order: 1886 February 20, 2015 PlayStation 4 63/100 [23]
Deformers [24] April 21, 2017PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, Xbox One 60/100 [25]
Lone Echo July 20, 2017 Oculus Rift 89/100 [26]
Echo Arena July 20, 2017Oculus Rift, Meta Quest 87/100 [27]
Echo CombatNovember 15, 2018Oculus Rift80/100 [28]
Lone Echo II [29] October 12, 2021Oculus Rift78/100 [30]

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References

  1. 1 2 "Naughty Dog director lured to Ready at Dawn by new IP". joystiq.com. August 3, 2007. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
  2. ↑ "E3 2014: Game developer Ready at Dawn rolls the dice with 'The Order: 1886′". Los Angeles Times. June 10, 2014. Archived from the original on August 11, 2017. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
  3. 1 2 Sutrich, Nicholas (August 7, 2024). "Meta is closing a beloved first-party Quest studio". Android Central. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  4. ↑ Roper, Chris (March 13, 2007). "God of War for PSP Confirmed". IGN. Archived from the original on July 23, 2011. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
  5. ↑ Bramwell, Tom (October 18, 2007). "Okami confirmed for Wii". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on October 19, 2007. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
  6. ↑ Martin, Matt (June 10, 2008). "Ready at Dawn officially finished with PSP development". gamesindustry.biz. Eurogamer. Archived from the original on February 7, 2012. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
  7. ↑ Crossley, Rob (October 12, 2008). "Ready at Dawn declares war with new engine". Develop . Intent Media. Archived from the original on February 25, 2012. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
  8. ↑ Thorsen, Tor (July 14, 2010). "God of War PSP studio axes 13". GameSpot . CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on July 19, 2010. Retrieved July 14, 2010.
  9. ↑ Spencer (February 28, 2012). "Ready at Dawn Ramping Up For New Third Person Action/Adventure Game". Siliconera. Archived from the original on December 28, 2014. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
  10. ↑ Kato, Matthew (June 8, 2015). "The Order: 1886 Developer Ready at Dawn Expanding In New Directions". Game Informer . Archived from the original on June 9, 2015. Retrieved June 8, 2015.
  11. ↑ "Lone Echo multiplayer is Ender's Game meets ultimate frisbee in VR (update)". Polygon. June 12, 2017. Archived from the original on January 22, 2019. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  12. ↑ "Compete in the World's First VR Esports League: VR Challenger Brackets Now Open!". Oculus Blog. July 12, 2017. Archived from the original on January 22, 2019. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  13. ↑ "VR shooter Echo Combat has the best movement of any FPS I've played". PC Gamer. December 17, 2018. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  14. ↑ "Ready at Dawn Expands Operations into the Pacific Northwest". November 8, 2018. Archived from the original on November 9, 2018. Retrieved November 9, 2018.
  15. ↑ Gach, Ethan (June 22, 2020). "Facebook Buys Creators Of The Order: 1886". Kotaku . Archived from the original on June 23, 2020. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  16. ↑ Stockdale, Henry (January 31, 2023). "Echo VR Shuts Down On August 1, Ready At Dawn Announces". Archived from the original on January 31, 2023. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
  17. ↑ Wales, Matt (April 20, 2023). "Ready at Dawn reportedly heavily impacted by latest Meta layoffs". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  18. ↑ "Daxter for PSP". Metacritic . CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on June 13, 2020. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
  19. ↑ "God of War: Chains of Olympus for PSP". Metacritic . CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on March 14, 2012. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
  20. ↑ "Okami for Wii". Metacritic . CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on February 12, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
  21. ↑ "God of War: Ghost of Sparta for PSP". Metacritic . CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on December 28, 2011. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
  22. ↑ "God of War Origins Collection for PlayStation 3 Reviews - Metacritic". Archived from the original on June 13, 2020. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  23. ↑ "The Order: 1886 for PlayStation 4 Reviews - Metacritic". Archived from the original on August 20, 2015. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  24. ↑ "Prepare for an Epic Battle!". Ready at Dawn. June 2, 2016. Archived from the original on June 23, 2016. Retrieved June 17, 2016.
  25. ↑ "De-Formers for PlayStation 4 Reviews - Metacritic". Archived from the original on March 3, 2020. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  26. ↑ "Lone Echo for PC Reviews - Metacritic". Archived from the original on September 9, 2020. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  27. ↑ "Echo Arena for PC Reviews - Metacritic". Archived from the original on July 27, 2018. Retrieved December 15, 2018.
  28. ↑ "Echo Combat". Archived from the original on July 1, 2020. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
  29. ↑ "Lone Echo II Trailer". Oculus VR. Archived from the original on December 15, 2018. Retrieved December 15, 2018.
  30. ↑ "Lone Echo II". Archived from the original on October 26, 2021. Retrieved October 28, 2021.
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