Ghost Ship Games

Last updated

Ghost Ship Games ApS
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Video games
Founded2016;8 years ago (2016)
Founders
  • Søren Lundgaard
  • Mikkel Martin Pedersen
  • Henrik Edwards
  • Jonas Møller
  • Robert Friis
  • Philip Mygind
Headquarters,
Denmark
Key people
  • Søren Lundgaard (CEO)
  • Henrik Edwards (CTO)
Number of employees
43
Parent Coffee Stain Holding
Divisions Ghost Ship Publishing
Website ghostship.dk

Ghost Ship Games ApS is a Danish video game developer and publisher based in Copenhagen. Founded in 2016, it is best known for developing Deep Rock Galactic .

Contents

History

Ghost Ship Games was founded in the spring of 2016 by a team of five former employees of Press Play after that studio's closure. CEO Søren Lundgaard was invited to join the company shortly after by game director Mikkel Martin Pedersen. Lundgaard and Pedersen had previously been co-workers at the defunct game studio Deadline Games for over ten years and each of the six founders had had experience in studio management. [1] The newly formed team begin work on a co-op title that they envisioned as "basically combining Minecraft and Left 4 Dead ". [2] In February 2017, Swedish developer Coffee Stain Studios acquired a 30% stake in Ghost Ship Games and agreed to publish their first game, Deep Rock Galactic. [3]

Coffee Stain Publishing released Deep Rock Galactic into early access on 28 February 2018. [4] Ghost Ship benefited from the community feedback that an early access model allowed for. Early reviews of the game were very positive and the game amassed 300,000 players by September 2018. [5] The game officially left early access after more than two years on 13 May 2020. [6]

In August 2021, Coffee Stain's parent company Embracer Group acquired the remaining 70% of Ghost Ship Games, which made the studio a subsidiary of Coffee Stain Holding. [7] In November 2021, Ghost Ship announced that Deep Rock Galactic had sold three million copies and would be ported to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 in January 2022. [8] [9] In June 2022 they announced they had sold 4 million copies. [10]

Ghost Ship Games announced a Publishing label for Danish game studios in February 2023. [11] The label's first three titles were subsequently announced as Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor (a single player spinoff of Deep Rock Galactic), SpellRogue and DarkSwarm. [12]

Games developed

YearTitlePlatform(s)Publisher(s)
2020 Deep Rock Galactic Windows, PS4, PS5, XBox One & Series X/SCoffee Stain Publishing
TBADeep Rock Galactic: Rogue CoreWindowsGhost Ship Publishing

Games published

YearTitlePlatform(s)Developer(s)
2024 Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor WindowsFunday Games
TBASpellRogueGuidlight Games
DarkSwarmBitfire Games
DinolordsNorthplay
Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue CoreGhost Ship Games

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electronic Arts</span> American video game company

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the designers and programmers responsible for its games as "software artists". EA published numerous games and some productivity software for personal computers, all of which were developed by external individuals or groups until 1987's Skate or Die! The company shifted toward internal game studios, often through acquisitions, such as Distinctive Software becoming EA Canada in 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">3D Realms</span> Video game publisher

3D Realms Entertainment ApS is a video game publisher based in Aalborg, Denmark. Scott Miller founded the company in his parents' home in Garland, Texas, in 1987 as Apogee Software Productions to release his game Kingdom of Kroz. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the company popularized a distribution model where each game consists of three episodes, with the first given away free as shareware and the other two available for purchase. Duke Nukem was a major franchise created by Apogee to use this model, and Apogee published Commander Keen and Wolfenstein 3D the same way.

<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">Gearbox Software</span> American video game company

Gearbox Software is an American video game development company based in Frisco, Texas. It was established as a limited liability company in February 1999 by five developers formerly of Rebel Boat Rocker. Randy Pitchford, one of the founders, serves as president and chief executive officer. Gearbox initially created expansions for the Valve game Half-Life, then ported that game and others to console platforms. In 2005, Gearbox launched its first independent set of games, Brothers in Arms, on console and mobile devices. It became their flagship franchise and spun off a comic book series, television documentary, books, and action figures. Their second original game series, Borderlands, commenced in 2009, and by 2015 had sold over 26 million copies. The company also owns the intellectual property of Duke Nukem and Homeworld.

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. The company employs over 1,350 people.

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

Access Software, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Founded in November 1982 by Bruce Carver and Chris Jones, the company created the Beach Head, Links and Tex Murphy series, as well as Raid over Moscow. Access Software was acquired by Microsoft in April 1999, transitioning in name twice before being acquired by Take-Two Interactive in October 2004, receiving the name Indie Built. In January 2005, Access Software became part of Take-Two's 2K label. Following a poor financial performance at Take-Two, Indie Built was closed down in May 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turtle Rock Studios</span> American video game developer

Turtle Rock Studios is an American video game developer founded in March 2002 by Mike Booth. It was acquired by Valve in 2008, but was re-founded in 2010 as a subsidiary of Slamfire Inc. by Phil Robb and Chris Ashton. Turtle Rock Studios is involved in the creation of original titles as well as the provision of consulting services to the digital entertainment industry.

Plaion is a German-Austrian media company headquartered in Höfen, Tyrol, Austria, with an operating subsidiary based in Planegg, Germany. The company was founded in 1994 by Franz Koch and Klemens Kundratitz. The company operates video game publishing labels Deep Silver, Prime Matter and Ravenscourt, the video game developers Warhorse Studios and Milestone, as well as a film distribution arm, Plaion Pictures. Koch Media's parent company, Koch Media Holding, was acquired by Swedish holding company Embracer Group in February 2018.

Team17 Group plc is a British video game developer and publisher based in Wakefield, England. The venture was created in December 1990 through the merger of British publisher 17-Bit Software and Swedish developer Team 7. At the time, the two companies consisted of and were led by Michael Robinson, Martyn Brown and Debbie Bestwick, and Andreas Tadic, Rico Holmes and Peter Tuleby, respectively. Bestwick later became Team17's chief executive officer until 1 January 2024. After their first game, Full Contact (1991) for the Amiga, the studio followed up with multiple number-one releases on that platform and saw major success with Andy Davidson's Worms in 1995, the resulting franchise of which still remains as the company's primary development output, having developed over 20 entries in it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coffee Stain Studios</span> Swedish video game developer

Coffee Stain Studios AB is a Swedish video game developer based in Skövde. Founded in 2010 by nine University of Skövde students, the company is best known for Goat Simulator, which was released in April 2014, and Satisfactory, released as an early access game in 2019. Their parent holding company also operates Coffee Stain Publishing, a publisher, and majority-owns developers Coffee Stain North and Lavapotion. In November 2018, the Coffee Stain group was acquired by THQ Nordic AB.

THQ Nordic GmbH is an Austrian video game publisher based in Vienna. Formed in 2011, it is a publishing subsidiary of Embracer Group. Originally named Nordic Games, as was the parent company, both companies were renamed THQ Nordic in August 2016 after the parent company had acquired the "THQ" trademark in 2014.

<i>Goat Simulator</i> 2014 video game

Goat Simulator is an action video game developed and published by Coffee Stain Studios. It was released for Microsoft Windows in April 2014, and ports for Linux and OS X were released in June 2014. Mobile versions for Android and iOS were released in September 2014. Versions for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One were released in April 2015, and for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 in August 2015; these ports were developed by Double Eleven. A Nintendo Switch version containing the game and downloadable content was released in January 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SXSW Gaming Awards</span>

The SXSW Gaming Awards were awards given to video games during the annual South by Southwest Festival (SXSW), held in Austin, Texas typically in March of that year. The Awards were part of the SXSW Gaming Expo which is part of the SXSW Interactive branch of the festival.

<i>Deep Rock Galactic</i> 2020 video game

Deep Rock Galactic is a cooperative first-person shooter video game developed by Danish studio Ghost Ship Games and published by Coffee Stain Publishing. Deep Rock Galactic was fully released on May 13, 2020 for Microsoft Windows and Xbox One after its early access release in February 28, 2018. The game was later released for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 in January 2022, and for Xbox Series X/S in September 2022.

Embracer Group AB is a Swedish video game and media holding company based in Karlstad. The company comprises 11 operative groups: Amplifier Game Invest, Asmodee, CDE Entertainment, Coffee Stain, Dark Horse Media, Deca Games, Easybrain, Freemode, Gearbox Entertainment, Plaion, and THQ Nordic.

<i>Valheim</i> Upcoming video game

Valheim is an upcoming survival and sandbox video game by the Swedish developer Iron Gate Studio and published by Coffee Stain Studios. It was released in early access on 2 February 2021 for Linux and Windows via Steam, and for Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S on 14 March 2023. The game was developed by a five-person team, building on development work which Richard Svensson had undertaken as a side project in his spare time. Since its early access release, Valheim has achieved both critical and commercial success, being praised as a "rare exception" of a refined early access game. A month after its release, it had sold over five million copies and was one of the most played games on Steam.

Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is an early access shoot 'em up video game by Funday Games. It is a top down spin-off of the first-person shooter Deep Rock Galactic modeled on the auto-shooter Vampire Survivors. The player controls a dwarf on a solo mission to mine ore, shooting enemies and ultimately defeating a boss at the end of each level in order to gain experience and increase their weapon's power. Funday began developing the game after discussing Vampire Survivors with the CEO of Ghost Ship Games at the 2022 Gamescom convention. It has released into early access on Windows on February 14, 2024.

References

  1. "Deep Rock Galactic Game Director Talks Rise From Six Founders to Three Million Players". 17 December 2021.
  2. "Rock And Stone! Ghost Ship Games CEO Søren Lundgaard Talks Deep Rock Galactic's Upcoming PlayStation Launch".
  3. "Coffee Stain Studios: Expanding, Acquiring and Publishing". 27 February 2017.
  4. TANNER DEDMON. "Deep Rock Galactic Comes to Early Access, Game Preview This Month". Comic Book. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
  5. "Deep Rock Galactic and the advantages of open development". 19 September 2018.
  6. "Deep Rock Galatic [sic] Leaves Early Access This May".
  7. "Embracer Group acquires 3D Realms, CrazyLabs, Digixart, Easy Trigger, Force Field, Ghost Ship Games, Grimfrost, and Slipgate Ironworks". Gematsu. 4 August 2021. Archived from the original on 5 August 2021. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  8. "Deep Rock Galactic Sells 3 Million Units". 11 November 2021.
  9. "Acclaimed Co-Op Shooter Deep Rock Galactic Digs Down to PS5, PS4 in January". December 2021.
  10. "4 Million Units sold". June 2022.
  11. Marshall, Cass (16 February 2023). "Deep Rock Galactic dev launches publishing label for Danish studios". Polygon. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
  12. "Ghost Ship Publishing unveils first three games it will be supporting". NME .