Venom Games

Last updated

Venom Games Limited
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Video games
PredecessorRage Newcastle
Founded2003;21 years ago (2003)
FounderPeter Johnson
DefunctJuly 2008 (2008-07)
Fate Dissolved
Headquarters
Gateshead
,
England
Key people
Peter Johnson (studio head)
Parent

Venom Games Limited was a British video game developer based in Gateshead, England. The studio was established by Peter Johnson in 2003 and succeeded Rage Newcastle. Take-Two Interactive acquired the company in 2004, where it became part of the 2K label in 2005 and was closed down in July 2008.

Contents

History

Venom Games was established in 2003 as successor to the previously closed Rage Newcastle, a studio of Rage Games, and headed by Peter Johnson as studio head. [1] [2] In 2004, the company was acquired by Take-Two Interactive. [1] The deal's negotiations were handled by law firm Weightmans. [3] On 25 January 2005, Take-Two Interactive announced the opening of publishing label 2K, which would henceforth manage their development studios, including Venom Games. [4]

On 2 July 2008, employees of Venom Games were informed that the company was due to close at the end of the month. [5] Take-Two Interactive confirmed that they were "assessing the role of Venom Games" and considering "possible redundancies", though no final decision would be made "until after the consultation with employees". [6] [7] Venom Games still shut down that year. [8]

Games developed

YearTitlePlatform(s)Publisher
2004 Rocky: Legends PlayStation 2 Ubisoft
Xbox
2006 Prey Xbox 360 2K Games
2008 Don King Presents: Prizefighter 2K Sports

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Take-Two Interactive</span> American video game holding company

Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in New York City founded by Ryan Brant in September 1993.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sports Interactive</span> British video game developer

Sports Interactive Limited is a British video game developer based in London, best known for the Football Manager series. Founded by brothers Oliver and Paul Collyer in July 1994, the studio was acquired by Japanese video game publisher Sega in 2006 and became part of Sega Europe. In addition to its work on Football Manager, the studio has also created a number of other sports-management simulations, including NHL Eastside Hockey Manager and Championship Manager Quiz, and is the former developer of Championship Manager.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Visual Concepts</span> American video game developer

Visual Concepts Entertainment is an American video game developer based in Novato, California. Founded in May 1988, the company is best known for developing sports games in the 2K franchise, most recently NBA 2K and WWE 2K, and previously NFL 2K and College Hoops 2K. Visual Concepts was acquired by Sega in May 1999 and sold to Take-Two Interactive in January 2005. The acquisition of the company led Take-Two Interactive to open their 2K label which Visual Concepts became part of, on the day following the acquisition. As of December 2018, the company employs more than 350 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rebellion Developments</span> Video game company

Rebellion Developments Limited is a British video game developer based in Oxford, England. Founded by Jason and Chris Kingsley in December 1992, the company is best known for its Sniper Elite series and multiple games in the Alien vs. Predator series. Sister company Rebellion Publishing has published comic books since 2000, when it purchased 2000 AD, the publisher of characters such as Judge Dredd and Rogue Trooper.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Codemasters</span> British video game developer

The Codemasters Software Company Limited is a British video game developer based in Southam, England, which is a subsidiary of American corporation Electronic Arts and managed under its EA Sports division. Founded by brothers Richard and David Darling in October 1986, Codemasters is one of the oldest British game studios, and in 2005 was named the best independent video game developer by magazine Develop. It formerly also published third-party games.

Eidos Interactive Limited was a British video game publisher based in Wimbledon, London. Its games series included Championship Manager (1992), Tomb Raider (1996) and Hitman (2000). Domark was founded by Mark Strachan and Dominic Wheatley in 1984. In 1995, it was acquired by software company Eidos. Ian Livingstone, who held a stake in Domark, became executive chairman of Eidos and held various roles including creative director. Eidos took over U.S. Gold in 1996, which included developer Core Design, and merged its operations including Domark, which created publishing subsidiary Eidos Interactive. The company acquired Crystal Dynamics in 1998, and owned numerous other assets. In 2005, parent Eidos was taken over by games publisher SCi. The combined company, SCi Entertainment Group, which was briefly renamed Eidos, was itself taken over by Square Enix in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sumo Digital</span> British video game developer

Sumo Digital Ltd. is a British video game developer based in Sheffield and the principal subsidiary of Sumo Group since 2017. The company was founded in 2003 by four former members of the management team of Infogrames Studios and, as of 2023, employs more than 1100 people in 16 studios. The developer's model has been described as work for hire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deep Silver</span> Austrian video game publisher

Deep Silver is an Austrian video game publisher and a division of Plaion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2K (company)</span> American video game publisher

2K is an American video game publisher based in Novato, California. The company was founded as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive in January 2005 through the 2K Games and 2K Sports sub-labels. The nascent label incorporated several development studios owned by Take-Two, including Visual Concepts and Kush Games, which had been acquired the day before. Originally based in New York City, 2K moved to Novato in 2007. A third label, 2K Play, was added in September 2007. 2K is governed by David Ismailer as president and Phil Dixon as chief operating officer. It operates a motion capture studio in Petaluma, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Climax Studios</span> British video game developer

Climax Studios is a British video game developer based in Portsmouth that is best known for their work on the 2004 action role-playing game Sudeki and the 2007 and 2009 survival horror video games Silent Hill: Origins and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories from the Silent Hill franchise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2K Australia</span> Australian video game developer

2K Australia Pty Ltd was an Australian video game developer based in Canberra. The company was founded as Irrational Games Australia, a subsidiary of Irrational Games, in April 2000. Irrational Games Australia and its parent were acquired by Take-Two Interactive in January 2006, with Irrational Games being placed under the 2K label. The two Irrational Games studio were split apart in August 2007, wherefore Irrational Games Australia became 2K Australia. Furthermore, 2K Australia under the name of sister studios 2K Marin between April 2010 and November 2011, and was finally shut down in April 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2K Marin</span> American video game developer

2K Marin, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Novato, California. Founded in December 2007 as a spin-off from their parent, 2K, the company developed BioShock 2 (2010) and The Bureau: XCOM Declassified (2013) before laying off or relocating all staff in October 2013 and silently being closed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kalypso Media</span> German video game publisher

Kalypso Media Group is a German video game developer and publisher. Founded in 2006 in Worms, the group includes four companies, in Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States and has studios, Realmforge Studios, Gaming Minds Studios, Claymore Game Studios, and Nine Worlds Studios. Kalypso is best known for publishing Tropico, Sudden Strike, Dungeons and Railway Empire series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rockstar Dundee</span> British video game developer

Rockstar Dundee Limited is a British video game developer and a studio of Rockstar Games based in Dundee. The studio is best known for developing Crackdown 2.

DC Studios Inc. was a British video game developer based in Montreal, Canada. Founded by Mark Greenshields in December 1999, it was originally located in Glasgow, and later expanded to Montreal, Edinburgh, and Dublin. Following the underperformance of State of Emergency 2, which the company had acquired from VIS Entertainment, DC Studios closed its Scotland operations in June 2006. The remaining Montreal office was closed in September 2007. Both offices were replaced by ones for Greenshields' newer venture, Firebrand Games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TT Games</span> British holding company

TT Games Limited is a British holding company and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Games. The company was established in 2005 through the merger of developer Traveller's Tales and publisher Giant Interactive. Its other branches include developer TT Fusion, animation studio TT Animation and mobile game studio TT Odyssey. The company is best known for its video games based on the Lego construction toy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hangar 13</span> American video game developer

Hangar 13 is an American video game developer based in Novato, California, in the area of the former Hamilton Air Force Base. Established with Haden Blackman in December 2014 as a division of 2K, the company's debut game was Mafia III, released in October 2016. In 2017, 2K Czech was merged into Hangar 13, wherefore the studio received two additional studios in Brno and Prague; another studio was opened in Brighton in 2018. Their second title, Mafia: Definitive Edition, was released in September 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Private Division</span> American video game publisher

Private Division is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The company was founded by Take-Two Interactive and announced in December 2017. Private Division funds and publishes indie games developed by small to mid-sized studios. This includes taking over Kerbal Space Program publishing and releasing titles from Obsidian Entertainment, Panache Digital Games, and V1 Interactive.

References

  1. 1 2 MCV Staff (2 July 2008). "Venom Games to close?". MCV/Develop .
  2. ↑ GamesIndustry International (16 March 2009). "Peter Johnson appointment". GamesIndustry.biz . Archived from the original on 18 December 2018. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  3. ↑ GamesIndustry International (6 February 2006). "Legal Firm To Appeal To The Development And Publishing Community - Weightmans". GamesIndustry.biz . Archived from the original on 18 December 2018. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  4. ↑ Jenkins, David (25 January 2005). "Take-Two Acquires Visual Concepts, Announces 2K Games Brand". Gamasutra . Archived from the original on 16 August 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  5. ↑ Martin, Matt (3 July 2008). "Venom Games to close doors this month?". GamesIndustry.biz . Archived from the original on 18 December 2018. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  6. ↑ Androvich, Mark (3 July 2008). "Take-Two confirms possible Venom redundancies". GamesIndustry.biz . Archived from the original on 18 December 2018. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  7. ↑ MCV Staff (4 July 2008). "2K 'assessing role of Venom'". MCV/Develop .
  8. ↑ Plunkett, Luke (16 January 2012). "Every Game Studio That's Closed Down Since 2006". Kotaku . Archived from the original on 2 June 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2019.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.