Snapshot Games

Last updated
Snapshot Games
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Video game developer
Founded2013;11 years ago (2013)
Founders
Headquarters
Sofia
,
Bulgaria
Number of employees
64 [1]  (2021)
Parent
Website snapshotgames.com

Snapshot Games is a Bulgarian video game developer headquartered in Sofia. [2] [3] Snapshot Games was founded in 2013 by Julian Gollop and David Kaye. [2] [4] Gollop is recognized for creating the X-COM video game franchise in the 1990s with X-COM: UFO Defense and X-COM: Apocalypse . [5] [2] [6] [7] [8] [9] Gollop also is the CEO of Snapshot Games. [9] In addition to Gollop, the company includes about eight developers who are industry veterans with years of previous experience working for Ubisoft Sofia, Crytek Black Sea, and other Bulgaria studios. [2]

Contents

History

On November 12, 2013, Snapshot Games was founded as a privately held corporation in the state of California of the United States. [4] However, it is based in Bulgaria where its CEO, Julian Gollop, lives and where video game development costs are about one-third of what they would be for a similar studio in the United States. [2] [3] [9]

In April 2014, Snapshot Games launched a Kickstarter to crowdfund the development of its first video game, Chaos Reborn . [10] The effort was successful, generating over $210,000. [10] The game was made available through the Early Access program of Steam on December 9, 2014 before it was released officially on October 26, 2015. [11] The game received a score of 86/100 on review aggregation website Metacritic. [12] PC Gamer awarded it a score of 87%, saying "A true wizard’s wheeze, and a fine return for one of gaming’s oldest tactical classics." [13] The game also was nominated for a Golden Joystick Award in the 2015 Best Indie Game category but lost to Kerbal Space Program . [14] [15]

Julian Gollop teased the development of a new video game, Phoenix Point , on Twitter on March 18, 2016. [16] [17] For the next year, Snapshot Games worked on designing and producing the game. [18] After investing $450,000 into this first year of development, the company launched a Fig crowdfunding campaign in April 2017 to obtain the $500,000 they budgeted to complete the game. [3] [19] The future of Snapshot relied on the success of the campaign. [18] "There is no Plan B," Gollop said to the press at the time. [18] The campaign was successful, raising more than $765,000 from over 10,300 different contributors. [19] Snapshot Games has committed to release Phoenix Point in 2019. [20] [21]

In November 2020, Embracer Group announced that it acquired the company through Saber Interactive. [22] In March 2024, Embracer sold Saber and many of its studios to Beacon Interactive. However, Snapshot was not included in the deal and remains under Embracer. [23]

Video games

YearTitlePlatform(s)
2015 Chaos Reborn Linux, Macintosh, Windows
2019 Phoenix Point Macintosh, Windows
2020Phoenix Point: Year One Edition
2021Phoenix Point: Behemoth Edition PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Phoenix Point: Year One Edition Stadia

Related Research Articles

XCOM is a science fiction video game franchise featuring an elite international organization tasked with countering alien invasions of Earth. The series began with the strategy video game X-COM: UFO Defense created by Julian Gollop's Mythos Games and MicroProse in 1994. The original lineup by MicroProse included six published and at least two canceled games, as well as two novels. The X-COM series, in particular its original entry, achieved a sizable cult following and has influenced many other video games; including the creation of a number of clones, spiritual successors, and unofficial remakes.

<i>X-COM: UFO Defense</i> 1994 video game

UFO: Enemy Unknown, also known as X-COM: UFO Defense in North America, is a 1994 science fiction strategy video game developed by Mythos Games and MicroProse. It was published by MicroProse for DOS and Amiga computers, the Amiga CD32 console, and the PlayStation. Originally planned by Julian Gollop as a sequel to Mythos Games' 1988 Laser Squad, the game mixes real-time management simulation with turn-based tactics. The player takes the role of commander of X-COM – an international paramilitary and scientific organization secretly defending Earth from an alien invasion. Through the game, the player is tasked with issuing orders to individual X-COM troops in a series of turn-based tactical missions. At strategic scale, the player directs the research and development of new technologies, builds and expands X-COM's bases, manages the organization's finances and personnel, and monitors and responds to UFO activity.

<i>Chaos: The Battle of Wizards</i> 1985 video game

Chaos: The Battle of Wizards is a turn-based tactics video game released for the ZX Spectrum in 1985. It was written by Julian Gollop and originally published by Games Workshop. Based on Gollop's 1982 design for a board game / card game hybrid, Chaos received a positive reception and went on to influence various games, including Darwinia and King's Bounty, and spawned a sequel, Lords of Chaos, in 1990.

<i>X-COM: Alliance</i> Cancelled video game

X-COM: Alliance is a cancelled video game in the X-COM series. The game was developed by two different teams of MicroProse developers between 1995 and 2002. It had the player assume the role of commander of the militarized scientific mission lost in space during the aftermath of X-COM: Terror from the Deep.

Saber Interactive Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Founded by Andrey Iones, Matthew Karch, and Anton Krupkin in 2001, it is controlled by Karch's investment company Beacon Interactive, created in 2024. The company employs over 1,350 people.

Julian Gollop is a British video game designer and producer specialising in strategy games, who has founded and led Mythos Games, Codo Technologies and Snapshot Games. He is known best as the "man who gave birth to the X-COM franchise."

<i>Rebelstar</i> 1984 video game

The Rebelstar games are a series of turn-based tactics video games designed by Julian Gollop. Rebelstar Raiders was published in 1984 by Red Shift for the ZX Spectrum. It was reworked in machine code as Rebelstar, published by Firebird in 1986. A sequel, Rebelstar II, was published in 1988 by Silverbird. Rebelstar, but not its sequel, was also adapted for the Amstrad CPC home computer.

<i>The Dreamland Chronicles: Freedom Ridge</i> Video game

The Dreamland Chronicles: Freedom Ridge is an unreleased video game for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 2 by Mythos Games. Developed by the team which produced X-COM: UFO Defense, including lead designer Julian Gollop, the game was planned to be "a remake of the first X-COM with 3D graphics," as the first of four games planned in the new series. Cancelled in 2001, the unfinished game was later bought and partially turned into UFO: Aftermath by Altar Interactive, which was in turn itself followed by two sequels. Some elements of the game are also present in Gollop's own Phoenix Point.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mythos Games</span> UK video game developer

Mythos Games was a British video game developer company founded by Julian Gollop and Nick Gollop in 1988 as Target Games. It is best known for its 1994 strategy game X-COM: UFO Defense, which went on to become the first installment in the later XCOM series. Following the closing of Mythos Games in 2001, the brothers founded Codo Technologies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">4A Games</span> Ukrainian-Maltese video game developer

4A Games Limited is a Ukrainian-Maltese video game developer based in Sliema, Malta. The company was founded in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2006 by three developers who departed from GSC Game World. In 2014, 4A Games moved its headquarters to Sliema, wherein the Kyiv office was retained as a sub-studio. The company is best known for developing the Metro video game series.

Video game development has typically been funded by large publishing companies or are alternatively paid for mostly by the developers themselves as independent titles. Other funding may come from government incentives or from private funding.

<i>Chaos Reborn</i> 2015 video game

Chaos Reborn is a turn-based tactical role-playing game developed by Snapshot Games and was part funded through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. Following an early access release in December 2014, the full game was released in October 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fig (company)</span> Crowdfunding platform for video games

Fig was a crowdfunding platform for video games. It launched in August 2015. Unlike traditional crowdfunding approaches like Kickstarter, where individuals can back a project to receive rewards, Fig used a mixed model that includes individual backing and the opportunity for uncredited investors to invest as to obtain a share of future revenues for successful projects. At the end of 2017, four projects had begun generating returns, returning 245% to Fig investors.

<i>Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire</i> 2018 video game

Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire is a 2018 role-playing video game developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Versus Evil. It is the sequel to 2015's Pillars of Eternity, and was released for Windows, Linux, macOS in May 2018, and for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in January 2020. A version for the Nintendo Switch was originally announced in 2018, but has been ultimately cancelled in February 2022 after multiple delays. The game was announced in January 2017 with a crowdfunding campaign on Fig, where it reached its funding goal within a day.

<i>Phoenix Point</i> 2019 video game

Phoenix Point is a strategy video game featuring a turn-based tactics system that is developed by Bulgaria-based independent developer Snapshot Games. It was released on December 3, 2019, for macOS and Microsoft Windows, for Stadia on January 26, 2021, and Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on October 1, 2021. Phoenix Point is intended to be a spiritual successor to the X-COM series that had been originally created by Snapshot Games head Julian Gollop during the 1990s.

Allen James Stroud is a researcher and university lecturer at Coventry University. He is currently leading the Creative Futures project, a funded research partnership between Coventry University and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL). Previously, he was Course Leader for the BA Media (Hons) Top Up and BA (Hons) Media and Communications. Before that, he was the course leader for Film and Television Production and the Creative Writing for Publication degrees at Bucks New University. Up until the end of 2019, he was the editor of the British Fantasy Society Journal. He also composes instrumental music; however, Stroud is best known for his sci-fi fantasy novels and video game writing. He was the 2017 and 2018 chair of Fantasycon, the annual convention of the British Fantasy Society, which hosts the British Fantasy Awards.

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References

  1. ↑ "Embracer Group Annual Report & Sustainability Report 2020 / 2021" (PDF). Embracer Group. 25 August 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 August 2021. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Inspired by X-COM, Snapshot Games is creating Phoenix Point for fall 2018". VentureBeat. 2017-04-25. Retrieved 2017-06-16.
  3. 1 2 3 "Phoenix Point's Fig campaign promises new take on classic X-COM formula". Polygon. 2017-04-25. Retrieved 2017-06-13.
  4. 1 2 "Business Search - Business Entities - Business Programs | California Secretary of State". businesssearch.sos.ca.gov. Retrieved 2017-06-16.
  5. ↑ Hall, Charlie (2017-05-02). "X-COM spiritual successor Phoenix Point hits $500K crowdfunding goal". Polygon. Retrieved 2017-06-16.
  6. ↑ "Gamereactor UK". www.gamereactor.eu. Retrieved 2017-06-16.
  7. ↑ "Phoenix Point, the Spiritual Successor to X-Com, Can Be Backed on Fig". geekreply.com. 29 April 2017. Retrieved 2017-06-16.
  8. ↑ Williams, Mike (26 April 2017). "X-COM Designer Returns To the Genre With Phoenix Point". USgamer. Archived from the original on 2017-07-04. Retrieved 2017-06-16.
  9. 1 2 3 Osborn, Alex (2017-06-05). "Phoenix Point Boss Battle Gameplay Revealed". IGN. Retrieved 2017-06-16.
  10. 1 2 "Chaos Reborn - From the Creator of the Original X-COM". Kickstarter. Retrieved 2017-06-16.
  11. ↑ Meer, Alec (2015-10-09). "X-COM Creator's Chaos Reborn Is Born This Month". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 2017-06-16.
  12. ↑ "Chaos Reborn". Metacritic. Retrieved 2017-06-16.
  13. ↑ "Chaos Reborn review". PC Gamer . Retrieved 2017-06-16.
  14. ↑ "The Golden Joystick Awards 2015 - Voting Now Open - Geek Syndicate". Geek Syndicate. 2015-09-04. Retrieved 2017-06-16.
  15. ↑ "Golden Joysticks 2015: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt wins five gaming awards - BBC Newsbeat". BBC Newsbeat. 2015-10-30. Retrieved 2017-06-16.
  16. ↑ "X-COM creator Julian Gollop teases new game Phoenix Point". VG 247. 2016-03-18. Retrieved 2017-06-13.
  17. ↑ Morrison, Angus (2016-03-18). "Julian Gollop announces new game, Phoenix Point". PC Gamer . Retrieved 2017-06-13.
  18. 1 2 3 "There is no Plan B". Gameindustry.biz. 2017-04-26. Retrieved 2017-06-13.
  19. 1 2 "Phoenix Point Crowdfunding Campaign". Fig. Retrieved 2017-06-16.
  20. ↑ "X-COM spiritual successor Phoenix Point hits $500K crowdfunding goal". Polygon. 2017-05-02. Retrieved 2017-06-13.
  21. ↑ "Phoenix Point by X-COM Creator Seeks Funding on Fig". wcctech.com. 2017-04-26. Retrieved 2017-06-13.
  22. ↑ Takahashi, Dean (November 17, 2020). "Embracer Group acquires 10 game studios and a PR firm". Venture Beat . Retrieved November 17, 2020.
  23. ↑ McEvoy, Sophie (2024-03-14). "Embracer sells Saber Interactive for $247m". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 2024-03-15.
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