XGen Studios

Last updated
XGen Studios, Inc
Type Private
Industry Video games
Founded2001
FounderSkye Boyes
Headquarters Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Key people
Kaelyn Boyes (Owner)
Products Super Motherload
Defend Your Castle
Website xgenstudios.com

XGen Studios, Inc (stylized as XGen Studios) is an independent video game development studio based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Contents

Since 2001, XGen Studios has released 14 internally developed titles for consoles, mobiles, and the web, including the WiiWare title Defend Your Castle [1] [2]

History

XGen Studios was founded by Skye Boyes in 2001. Boyes was interested in programming in his childhood, and was studying computer science at the University of Alberta. [3] While in university in 2003, he published a browser game made with Adobe Flash called Stick RPG. This game amassed one million plays in the first month. [4] Skye dropped out of his computer science program, incorporated the company, and began to accumulate staff. [5] XGen Studios followed up Stick RPG by releasing another Flash game called Motherload in 2004. [4]

An offer to acquire the company for $8 million was made to XGen in 2007, but Boyes declined the deal. [4] That same year, XGen Studios announced that they had obtained a license to develop for Nintendo's Wii system, and intended to develop a WiiWare title. [6] [7] It was revealed in 2008 that Defend Your Castle would be part of Nintendo's WiiWare launch line up. [1] [5] [8] [9]

In 2011, XGen Studios announced that they would take Amanita Design's Machinarium to WiiWare. [10] [11] The project was eventually cancelled as of November 2011, due to the WiiWare platform's game size limit. [12] [13] [14]

In 2013, Sony announced that Super Motherload would be a day one title for the PlayStation 4. [15]

On October 12, 2015, founder and CEO Boyes died in Vancouver after experiencing cardiac arrest. [16] [17] His wife Kaelyn, who had worked on the operations side of the business, took over XGen Studios, overseeing the development of The Low Road. [17] [18] The Low Road launched on July 26, 2017 on Valve's Steam available for PC, Mac and Linux. [19] [20] The following year, The Low Road was released on the Nintendo Switch. [21]

Console games developed

TitleYearPlatform(s)Notes
Defend Your Castle 2008Nintendo Wii, iPad, iPhone, MacOS, Windows, Android, Nintendo Switch
Machinarium 2011WiiWarePort - Cancelled
Super Motherload 2013PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Windows
The Low Road2017 & 2018Windows, Mac, Linux, Nintendo Switch

Related Research Articles

Link (<i>The Legend of Zelda</i>) Video game character

Link is a fictional character and the protagonist of Nintendo's video game series The Legend of Zelda. He is one of Nintendo's most iconic characters. He was created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Link was introduced as the hero of the original 1986 The Legend of Zelda video game and has appeared in a total of 19 entries in the series, as well as a number of spin-offs. Common elements in the series include Link travelling through Hyrule whilst exploring dungeons, battling creatures and solving puzzles until he eventually defeats the series' primary antagonist, Ganon, and saves Princess Zelda.

2006 saw the release of many sequels and prequels in video games, prominently including New Super Mario Bros, Sonic the Hedgehog, and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, alongside many prominent new releases including Bully, Company of Heroes, Dead Rising, Gears of War, Just Cause, Lost Planet: Extreme Condition, Ōkami, Prey, Resistance: Fall of Man, Saints Row, and Thrillville. Two new home consoles were released during the year: Nintendo's Wii and Sony's PlayStation 3.

Club Nintendo Set of journals and customer loyalty program provided by Nintendo

Club Nintendo is a discontinued customer loyalty program provided by Nintendo. The loyalty program was free to join and provided rewards in exchange for consumer feedback and loyalty to purchasing official Nintendo products. Members of Club Nintendo earned credits or "coins" by submitting codes found on Nintendo products and systems, which could be traded in for special edition items only available on Club Nintendo. Rewards included objects such as playing cards, tote bags, controllers, downloadable content, and warranty extensions on select Nintendo products.

WayForward Technologies, Inc. is an American independent video game developer and publisher based in Valencia, California. Founded in March 1990 by technology entrepreneur Voldi Way, WayForward started by developing games for consoles such as the Super NES and Genesis, as well as TV games and PC educational software. In 1997, they relaunched their video games arm, placing the company as a contractor for publishers and working on a variety of licensed assets.

Q-Games

Q-Games, Limited is a video game developer based in Nakagyō-ku, Kyoto, Japan which works closely with both Nintendo and Sony.

<i>Chronos Twins</i> 2007 video game

Chronos Twins is an action-adventure game developed by Spanish studio EnjoyUP Games, released in Europe on October 12, 2007. It was also released in North America on January 18, 2010 and in Europe on May 14, 2010 as a download for the Nintendo DSi system. The game puts a different perspective on time travel than most games. Instead of revisiting an area in two different times, both screens show the same setting during two eras as gamers explore the land with a present-day hero. Chronos Twins was originally planned for release for Game Boy Advance, but after the rise of the Nintendo DS, the game's development switched to that system. An enhanced version for the Wii console entitled Chronos Twins DX was released in North America as a WiiWare download one week prior to the Nintendo DSi release. It was later released in the PAL region for WiiWare on April 2, 2010.

Wii Menu System menu for the Nintendo Wii

The Wii Menu is the graphical shell of the Wii game console, as part of the Wii system software. It has four pages, each with a 4:3 grid, and each displaying the current time and date. Available applications, known as "channels", are displayed and can be navigated using the pointer capability of the Wii Remote. The grid is customizable; users can move channels among the menu's 48 customizable slots by pressing and holding the A and B button while hovering over the channel the user wanted to move. By pressing the plus and minus buttons on the Wii Remote users can scroll across accessing empty slots.

<i>Deca Sports</i> 2008 video game

Deca Sports is a sports video game for the Wii developed by Hudson Soft. It is a collection of ten different sports simulations controlled with the Wii Remote.

<i>Defend Your Castle</i> 2008 video game

Defend Your Castle is a series of video games developed by XGen Studios.

Ronimo Games is a Dutch video game developer founded in 2007 by former students of the Utrecht School of the Arts.

<i>Machinarium</i> 2009 video game

Machinarium is a puzzle point-and-click adventure game developed by Amanita Design. It was released on 16 October 2009 for Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, on 8 September 2011 for iPad 2 on the App Store, on 21 November 2011 for BlackBerry PlayBook, on 10 May 2012 for Android, on 6 September 2012 on PlayStation 3's PlayStation Network in Europe, on 9 October 2012 in North America and on 18 October 2012 in Asia, and was also released for PlayStation Vita on 26 March 2013 in North America, on 1 May 2013 in Europe and on 7 May 2013 in Asia. Demos for Windows, Mac and Linux were made available on 30 September 2009. A future release for the Wii's WiiWare service was cancelled as of November 2011 due to WiiWare's 40MB limit.

<i>Harvest Moon: My Little Shop</i> 2009 video game

Harvest Moon: My Little Shop is a video game developed by h.a.n.d. Inc. It was released for the Wii via Nintendo's WiiWare service.

<i>Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs</i> (video game) 2009 video game

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is a 2009 platform game published by Activision. It is based on the film of the same name. The game was released on June 30, 2009 for Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, Games for Windows and Nintendo DS. A demo was made available in the Xbox Live Marketplace on June 15, 2009 as well as a computer demo.

<i>Tiny Thief</i> 2013 point and click adventure video game

Tiny Thief was a point and click adventure video game which was developed by 5Ants and published by Rovio Entertainment. The game was part of Rovio Entertainment's Rovio Stars program. The story of Tiny Thief follows a childlike thief whose goal is to steal items from enemies.

Giles Goddard is an English video game programmer. He was one of the first Western employees at Nintendo, programming the Mario face in Super Mario 64, and working on titles such as Star Fox, 1080° Snowboarding, and Steel Diver. In 2002, he founded Vitei, a video game developer based in Kyoto, Japan, for which he serves as CEO.

<i>Nintendo Switch Sports</i> 2022 video game for the Nintendo Switch

Nintendo Switch Sports is a sports simulation video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the latest entry in the Wii series of games, despite not having "Wii" in its title. The game was released on April 29, 2022.

References

  1. 1 2 Boyes, Skye (2008). "From Freeware to WiiWare". Casual Connect. No. Fall. p. 27. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
  2. ↑ "Our Games". XGen Studios. Retrieved November 18, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ↑ Sperounes, Sandra (2015-11-27). "Life and Times: Video game developer and musician was fearless". Edmonton Journal. Retrieved 2020-06-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. 1 2 3 Mouallem, Omar (2010-02-11). "Up in the Skye". Avenue Edmonton. Retrieved 2020-06-02.
  5. 1 2 Mouallem, Omar (March 12, 2014). "Need to Know: Skye Boyes". Alberta Venture. Archived from the original on October 31, 2014. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
  6. ↑ rawmeatcowboy (January 17, 2008). "XGen Studios Announces Nintendo Developer Status, Upcoming WiiWare Title". GoNintendo. Retrieved November 18, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ↑ McFerran, Damien (January 22, 2008). "XGen Studios WiiWare title in 'Early 2008'". Nintendo Life. Gamer Network . Retrieved November 18, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. ↑ Savino, Candace (May 10, 2008). "Nintendo reveals WiiWare launch List". Engadget . Verizon Media . Retrieved November 18, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. ↑ Fletcher, JC (February 29, 2008). "Defend Your Castle: new awesome date, new awesome look". Engadget . Verizon Media . Retrieved November 18, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. ↑ Newton, James (September 9, 2019). "XGen Studios Readying Machinarium and Super Motherload for WiiWare". Nintendo Life. Gamer Network . Retrieved November 18, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. ↑ "Amanita Design and XGen Studios bring Machinarium to WiiWare" (Press release). Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. September 9, 2019. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
  12. ↑ Newton, James (November 1, 2011). "Machinarium Finally, Officially Cancelled". Nintendo Life. Gamer Network . Retrieved November 18, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  13. ↑ McElroy, Griffin (September 10, 2010). "XGen Studios bringing the adorable Machinarium to WiiWare". Engadget . Retrieved November 18, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  14. ↑ Yin-Poole, Wesley (November 1, 2011). "PlayStation 3 Machinarium "the ultimate version"". Eurogamer . Gamer Network . Retrieved November 18, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  15. ↑ "PlayStation 4 Launch Titles". IGN . November 3, 2016. Retrieved November 18, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  16. ↑ Kerr, Chris (October 19, 2015). "Obituary: XGen Studios founder Skye Boyes". Gamasutra . Retrieved November 18, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  17. 1 2 "'He would be very proud': Edmonton developer's videogame completed after death". CBC. 2017-07-31. Retrieved 2020-06-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  18. ↑ Sapieha, Chad (2017-07-25). "How Edmonton's XGen Studios overcame the tragic loss of its founder en route to this week's launch of The Low Road". Financial Post. Retrieved 2020-06-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  19. ↑ Loeffler, Jordan (July 26, 2017). "The Low Road Launches on Steam with a Musically Heightened Trailer". DualShockers. Retrieved November 18, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  20. ↑ Graney, Juris (2017-08-04). "Edmonton indie game producer releases The Low Road, realizing dream of founder who died in 2015". Edmonton Journal. Retrieved 2020-06-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  21. ↑ The Low Road - Official Nintendo Switch Trailer (Trailer). August 10, 2018. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
  22. "Pocket Casino on the Google Play Store".
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.