 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 2011 |
| Founder |
|
| Headquarters | , Canada |
Key people |
|
Number of employees | 200+ [1] (2021) |
| Parent | NetEase (2023–present) |
| Website | skyboxlabs |
SkyBox Labs Inc. is a Canadian video game developer located in Burnaby, British Columbia. Founded in 2011 by Derek MacNeil, Shyang Kong and Steven Silvester formerly from EA Vancouver, [2] they are mostly known for their work with Xbox Game Studios on the Halo, Age of Empires and Minecraft franchises.
SkyBox Labs co-founders, Derek MacNeil, Shyang Kong and Steven Silvester worked together at EA Vancouver from 2004 to 2010 on the FIFA , Need for Speed , NBA Live and NHL franchises, where MacNeil was development director while Kong was senior producer and Silvester technical director, when they decided to set up an independent studio in Burnaby, Vancouver. [3] [4]
Initially being a contract-based studio, in the year of its founding SkyBox Labs signed an agreement with publisher Microsoft Studios (late renamed to Xbox Game Studios), which liked the studio and its culture, being a partner publisher of SkyBox, outhough not owning them. [3]
Midway through the development of the game, SkyBox Labs was contracted to produce some low-fidelity gameplay prototypes for Relentless Software's title, Kinect Nat Geo TV , which was developed for Xbox 360 with Kinect. None of the prototypes featured in the final product. It was published by Microsoft Studios and released on September 18, 2012. It received mostly positive reviews, scoring 78 out of 100 on review aggregator site Metacritic. [5]
SkyBox Labs continued working with Microsoft Studios after that, co-developing an expansion pack for Age of Empires II HD called The Forgotten with Forgotten Empires, which was released on November 7, 2013. They also worked on a remaster of Age of Mythology called Age of Mythology: Extended Edition , which was released on May 8, 2014, and received mixed reviews, scoring 66 out of 100 on Metacritic, [6] they also co-developed a new expansion for Age of Mythology: Extended Edition called Tale of the Dragon together with Forgotten Empires, which was released on January 28, 2016. They also developed a remaster of Rise of Nations , Rise of Nations Extended Edition, released on June 12, 2014.
On June 17, 2014, EA Sports UFC was a collaboration between EA Canada and SkyBox Games. It was the first UFC game after THQ lost the license and it was sold to Electronic Arts. Final product received mixed, but mostly positive reviews, with Xbox One version scoring 71 out of 100 on Metacritic [7] and PlayStation 4 version scoring 69 out of 100. [8]
Their next work was a simulation, sandbox video game called Project Spark , co-developed with Team Dakota and published by Microsoft Studios. It was released on October 8, 2014.
Japanese company DeNA published their next two video games, first being Military Masters for iOS and Android, which was released on December 4, 2014, and second being Protocol Zero for Samsung Gear VR, which was released on January 5, 2015.
SkyBox Labs then developed and self-published Parade Runner for iOS and Android, which was released on April 9, 2015. Company is also working on a PC game called Lethal Tactics, which was released in Early Access on Steam on May 20, 2015.
In 2018, after E3, SkyBox announced a new partnership with 343 Industries and Microsoft, where the studio will be co-developing Halo Infinite , the next major entry to the Halo franchise.
SkyBox Labs was acquired by NetEase Games in January 2023. [9]
Rare Limited is a British video game developer and a studio of Xbox Game Studios based in Twycross, Leicestershire. Rare's games span the platform, first-person shooter, action-adventure, fighting, and racing genres. Its most popular games include the Battletoads, Donkey Kong, and Banjo-Kazooie series, as well as games like GoldenEye 007 (1997), Perfect Dark (2000), Conker's Bad Fur Day (2001), Viva Piñata (2006), and Sea of Thieves (2018).
Xbox Game Studios is an American video game publisher based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, spun out from an internal Games Group, for the development and publishing of video games for Microsoft Windows. It has since expanded to include games and other interactive entertainment for the namesake Xbox platforms, other desktop operating systems, Windows Mobile and other mobile platforms, and web-based portals.
Need for Speed (NFS) is a racing game franchise published by Electronic Arts and currently developed by Criterion Games, the developers of Burnout. The series generally centers around illegal street racing and tasks players to complete various types of races while evading the local law enforcement in police pursuits. The series is one of EA's oldest franchises not published under their EA Sports brand. The series released its first title, The Need for Speed, in 1994. The most recent game, Need for Speed Unbound, was released on December 2, 2022. Additionally, a free-to-play mobile installment released in 2015, Need for Speed: No Limits, is actively developed by Firemonkeys Studios, the developers of Real Racing 3.
Halo is a military science fiction media franchise, originally developed and created by Bungie and currently managed and developed by 343 Industries, part of Microsoft's Xbox Game Studios. The series launched in 2001 with the first-person shooter video game Halo: Combat Evolved and its tie-in novel, The Fall of Reach. The latest main game, Halo Infinite, was released in late 2021.
Age of Empires is a series of historical real-time strategy video games, originally developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Xbox Game Studios. The first game was Age of Empires, released in 1997. Nine total games within the series have been released so far as of October 28, 2021.
There have been numerous Monopoly video games based on the core game mechanics of Parker Brothers and Hasbro's board game Monopoly. They have been developed by numerous teams and released on multiple platforms over 35+ years.
Frostbite is a game engine developed by DICE, designed for cross-platform use on Microsoft Windows, seventh generation game consoles PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, eighth generation game consoles PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch and ninth generation game consoles PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, in addition to usage in the cloud streaming service Google Stadia.
Numerous video games were released in 2010. Many awards went to games such as Red Dead Redemption, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Mass Effect 2, God of War III and Super Mario Galaxy 2. Kinect from Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360 was also released this year.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 is a 2010 action-adventure video game. It is based on the 2010 film of the same name. It was released on 16 November 2010 in the United States, 18 November 2010 in Australia, and on 19 November 2010 in Europe and India. The game was released for mobile devices, Nintendo DS, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360.
Minecraft is a 2011 sandbox game developed by Mojang Studios and originally released in 2009. The game was created by Markus "Notch" Persson in the Java programming language. Following several early private testing versions, it was first made public in May 2009 before being fully released on November 18, 2011, with Notch stepping down and Jens "Jeb" Bergensten taking over development. Minecraft has become the best-selling video game in history, with over 300 million copies sold and nearly 140 million monthly active players as of 2023. It has been ported to several platforms.
Kinect: Disneyland Adventures is a 2011 open world video game developed by Frontier Developments and published by Microsoft Studios on Kinect for Xbox 360, with a remaster for Xbox One and Microsoft Windows developed by Asobo Studio released in 2017 as simply Disneyland Adventures. It takes place in a recreation of Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California, circa 2011, with themed games in place of many of the rides, while motion controls are used to play the game.
Puss in Boots is an action game based on the film of the same name. It was developed by Blitz Games Studios, and released by THQ for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii and Nintendo DS. It features support for Kinect and PlayStation Move on the respective platforms.
Kinect Nat Geo TV is an interactive television program for the Xbox 360 video game console. It was developed by Relentless Software and SkyBox Labs, and published by Microsoft Studios. It was released on 18 September 2012.
Kinect Fun Labs is an application development hub that allows users to play, create and share their own Kinect experiences. As of July 2012, there were fifteen games in the Fun Labs range. The games were developed by Good Science Studio, Smoking Gun Interactive, Relentless Software, Wahoo Studios, Asobo Studio, and N-Space and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360.
Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox network and Xbox Game Pass. The brand is produced by Microsoft Gaming, a division of Microsoft.
The Coalition is a Canadian video game developer and a studio of Xbox Game Studios based in Vancouver. The Coalition is best known for developing games in the Gears of War series after the franchise's acquisition by Xbox Game Studios from Epic Games.
The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Australia, and South America in November 2013 and in Japan, China, and other European countries in September 2014. It is the first Xbox game console to be released in China, specifically in the Shanghai Free-Trade Zone. Microsoft marketed the device as an "all-in-one entertainment system", hence the name "Xbox One". An eighth-generation console, it mainly competed against Sony's PlayStation 4 and Nintendo's Wii U and later the Switch.
EA Sports UFC is a mixed martial arts fighting video game developed in a collaboration between EA Canada and SkyBox Labs, and published by EA Sports for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It is based on the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) brand and was released on June 17, 2014. It is the first UFC game since THQ sold the license to Electronic Arts. A downgraded port of the game was released for mobile devices in April 2015.
Minecraft: Story Mode is an episodic point-and-click video game developed and published by Telltale Games, based on Mojang Studios' sandbox video game Minecraft. The first five episodes were released between October 2015 through March 2016 and an additional three episodes were released as downloadable content (DLC) in mid-2016. A second season consisting of five episodes was released in 2017.
Lego Worlds is a Lego-themed sandbox game developed by Traveller's Tales and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The game allows players to build constructions in a 3D procedurally generated world. A beta version of the game was released on 1 June 2015 on Steam Early Access. It was released on 7 March 2017 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. A version for Nintendo Switch was released on 5 September 2017 in North America and 8 September 2017 in Europe.