 | |
| Industry | Video games |
|---|---|
| Founded | February 2013 |
| Headquarters | Middlesbrough, United Kingdom |
Key people |
|
| Owner | Behaviour Interactive (2023–present) |
| Website | sockmonkeystudios |
Behaviour UK - North (formerly SockMonkey Studios) is a British video game developer, founded by Teesside University graduates [1] Bob Makin and Darren Cuthbert, in Middlesbrough, North East England. [2]
Founded in February 2013 [3] with the help of DigitalCity, [4] prior to SockMonkey Studios Makin and Cuthbert worked at other studios [5] including Team17, Jagex and Iguana.
Makin and Cuthbert were later joined by industry veteran Darren Falcus. [2] Building their foundation on primarily work for hire jobs, the studio collaborated with numerous video game companies such as SEGA, Double Eleven and Team 17 [2] [6] to assist in the porting of their games to other consoles.
After setting up their offices on Victoria Road in Middlesbrough, in 2015 they moved their headquarters to the Phoenix Building at Teesside University, [4] moving again to Boho 5 [7] as the studio grew and as of 2021 reside at 16/26 Albert Road North [8] in Middlesbrough.
From its inception, the studio experienced growth due to increasing demand within the gaming industry and by 2020 had added dozens of positions. In 2019 alone they reported doubling the headcount in their Teesside office. [9]
In 2020, during an expansion phase, Ron Ashtiani [10] - former CEO of Sumo Group's Atomhawk Business - was added to the board of directors. [11] During 2020, the studio also received funding [12] from Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund.
In February 2023 it was announced that SockMonkey Studios had been acquired by Behaviour Interactive, becoming Behaviour UK - North. [13]
Although the studio also worked on full-scale development [6] SockMonkey was predominantly a work-for-hire studio, having worked globally on contracts for both PC and console, [2] including US-based developers such as tinyBuild and Outfit7. [14]
| Year | Institution | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | GameBridge | Business Award | Won |
| 2020 | Tees Tech Awards 2020 [16] | Tech Ambassador | Nominated |
| Company of the Year | Nominated | ||
| North East Business Awards [17] | Small Business Award: Teesside | Won | |
| Small Business Award: Grand Final | Won | ||
| 2021 | Tees Tech Awards 2021 | Unsung Hero: Darren Falcus | Won |
| Business Leader: Bob Makin | Won | ||
| 2022 | Tees Tech Awards 2022 | Company of the Year | Nominated |
| Game Dev Heroes Awards 2022 | Design Hero 2022: Dewi Roberts | Nominated | |
| Gi.biz Best Places to Work 2022 | Best Boss UK : Bob Makin | Nominated | |
| Best Places to Work: Small Company | Won | ||
| 2023 | Velocitees Awards | Job Creation: Small Business | Nominated |
| Turnover: Small Business | Nominated |
| Year | Game Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Wurdy | Development | |
| 2014 | Joe Danger | Porting | Ported to Android |
| SockaMonkeys | Full Development | ||
| The Soccer Monkey | Full Development | ||
| 2015 | Joe Danger Infinity | Porting | Ported to Android |
| Unannounced Title | Porting | Unreleased title | |
| 2016 | Farm Fighters | Development | Added online multiplayer and design work |
| Kingdom Conquest (Unreleased) | Art and Animation | Unreleased mobile title | |
| 2017 | The Rocky Horror Show: Touch Me | Development | Code development |
| PlayPhoto | Development | Addition of Imessage add-on | |
| The Escapists | Porting | ||
| 2018 | Beat the Intro | Development | |
| Songbringer | Porting | Ported to Nintendo Switch | |
| Prison Architect | Porting | Ported to Nintendo Switch | |
| 2019 | Prison Architect | Development | Created content and updates for console and PC |
| 2020 | Talking Tom Candy Run | Porting | Ported to Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and PlayStation 4, and added Multiplayer Mode |
| Deliver Us the Moon | Porting | Ported to Xbox One and PlayStation 4 | |
| Tens! | Porting and Development | Ported to PC, Mac and Nintendo Switch added content, Story Mode and Multiplayer Mode | |
| Kill it with Fire | Porting | Ported to Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, iOS and Android | |
| 2021 | Totally Accurate Battlegrounds | Development | Co-development of future updates and content and changing the game from premium to free to play |
| 2022 | Happy's Humble Burger Farm | Porting | Ported to Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch |
| Little Orpheus | Porting and Development | Remastered and Ported to Xbox One, PlayStation 4 / 5, Switch and PC | |
| Tinykin | Porting | Ported to Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, MS Store, PlayStation 4 / 5 and Switch | |
| CoComelon: Play with JJ | Full Development | Nintendo Switch |
Middlesbrough Football Club is a professional football club in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. The men's team compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Formed in 1876, they have played at the Riverside Stadium since 1995. The club played at Ayresome Park for 92 years, from 1903 to 1995.
Middlesbrough is a town in the Middlesbrough unitary authority borough of North Yorkshire, England. The town is in Teesdale, near the North York Moors National Park. With a population of 148,215, it was classed as large town to smaller city at the 2021 UK census. It is the largest town of the wider Teesside area, which had a population of 376,633 in 2011.
Big Huge Games, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Timonium, Maryland since 2000, known first for real-time strategy games such as Rise of Nations, later for the console RPG Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, and more recently for mobile games such as DomiNations and Arcane Showdown. Throughout most of its history the company has been associated with its best-known founder, Brian Reynolds, whose prior career already included work as lead designer of Civilization II and Alpha Centauri, and co-founder of Firaxis Games. The studio's ownership has changed hands several times over the years, and it became briefly defunct in May 2012, but it was revived by Reynolds along with several original alumni and new partners. The company is presently owned by Nexon, and actively runs its mobile titles DomiNations and Arcane Showdown, while continuing to develop new games.
jMonkeyEngine is an open-source and cross-platform game engine for developing 3D games written in Java. It uses shader technology extensively and can be used to write games for Windows, Linux, macOS, Raspberry Pi, Android, and iOS. It uses Lightweight Java Game Library as its default renderer and another renderer based on Java OpenGL. it also supports OpenGL 2 to OpenGL 4.
The Riverside Stadium is a football stadium in Middlesbrough, England, which has been the home of Middlesbrough since it opened in 1995. Its current capacity is 34,742, all seated, although provisional planning permission is in place to expand to 42,000 if required.
Behaviour Interactive Inc. is a Canadian video game developer based in Montreal. The studio is best known for Dead by Daylight.
Yarm School is a co-educational independent day school in Yarm, North Yorkshire in the North East of England. The school accepts pupils aged 3–18 years old and has a Nursery Pre-Prep, Preparatory School, Senior School and Sixth Form. The School was founded in 1978 and is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.
Firebrand Games Limited is a British video game developer based in Glasgow, Scotland. The company was founded by chief executive officer Mark Greenshields in 2006 and has operated a second office in Merritt Island, Florida, since September 2007.
VG247 is a video game blog published in the United Kingdom, founded in February 2008 by industry veteran Patrick Garratt. Its current Editor-in-Chief is Dom Peppiatt. In 2009, CNET ranked it as the third best gaming blog in the world.
Connor James Ripley is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for EFL League One club Port Vale.
Playground Games Limited is a British video game developer based in Leamington Spa, England. It is known for developing the Forza Horizon series, which is part of the larger Forza franchise. In 2018, Playground Games became part of Microsoft Studios. They are also developing the next game in the Fable series.
David Atkinson is an English footballer who plays as a defender for Northern League Division One club Shildon. He played in the Football League for Carlisle United.
Andy Preston is an English politician, charity chairman, and businessman. He was elected Mayor of Middlesbrough in May 2019, serving until his defeat in May 2023. He previously stood for the role of elected mayor of Middlesbrough in 2015.
Middlesbrough started as a Benedictine priory on the south bank of the River Tees, its name possibly derived from it being midway between the holy sites of Durham and Whitby. The earliest recorded form of Middlesbrough's name is "Mydilsburgh", containing the term burgh.
Alexander Antony Pattison is an English professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for League Two club Bradford City. He has previously played in the English Football League for Yeovil Town and Wycombe Wanderers.
Lewis Clive Scoble, known as Junior Mondal, is an English professional footballer who plays as a winger or striker for Northern Premier League Premier Division club Whitby Town. He began his career with Middlesbrough but never appeared for their first team, spent 18 months in the Football League with Forest Green Rovers, and played non-league football for Spennymoor Town, Whitby Town, AFC Fylde and Marske United.
Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio is a video game developer housed within the Japanese video game company Sega as part of its Sega CS Research and Development No. 1 division. It is known for developing the games in the Like a Dragon series, which the studio is named after, since Yakuza 5.
Marvel's Spider-Man is a series of action-adventure video games developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for PlayStation consoles and Microsoft Windows. Based on characters appearing in Marvel Comics publications, the games are inspired by the long-running comic book lore, while additionally deriving from various adaptations in other media. The series principally follows protagonists Peter Parker and Miles Morales, who fight crime in New York City as Spider-Men while dealing with the complications of their civilian lives.
The Old Town Hall is a municipal building in East Street in the Middlehaven area of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. The structure, which has been vacant since 1996, is a Grade II listed building. The adjacent clock tower is separately listed.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)