Starbreeze Studios

From Entertainment Bobber Wiki

Jump to: navigation, search

Starbreeze Studios AB is a Swedish video game developing company. The company is famous for its The Chronicles of Riddick games based on the popular movies by the same title.

Contents

History

Timeline

Before the merger

  • 1993, Triton Productions HB is founded. Triton was involved in video game development during 1993-1997. The company worked on such projects as Into the Shadows, a third person perspective beat’em up video game, which was never released, Huntdown, a first person / third person shooter video game, which was also never released, and Realtime Gravis Ultrasound soundcard advertising demo.
  • Early 1998, O3 Games AB is founded by Jens Larsson, Daniel Benitez and Lars Hagelin. The company was originally based in Östhammar, close to Uppsala, Sweden.
  • November 1998, Starbreeze Studios AB was founded by Magnus Högdahl and consisted of some of the previous members of the demoscene group Triton Productions HB, such as musician Gustaf Grefberg (Lizardking) and a 3D artist and animator Mikko Tähtinen. The newly formed company was based in Härnösand, Sweden at the time.
  • 1998-2000, around that time Starbreeze Studios AB works on the Sorcery, a first person shooter / RPG. The game was never released.
  • February 2000, O3 Games AB signs a contract with Pan Interactive Publishing AB. According to the contract, Pan Interactive has the global sales right to the upcoming The Outforce video game.
  • September 25, 2000, O3 Games AB releases The Outforce, a real-time strategy video game for PC.
  • July 31, 2000, O3 Games AB has listed its shares on AktieTorget electronic marketplace. The shares have a short name STAR and a ISIN code SE0000667875.
  • August, 2000, O3 Games AB signs an agreement to acquire Starbreeze Studios AB.

After the merger

  • September 25, 2000, according to the agreement signed in August, O3 Games AB acquires all shares of the Starbreeze Studios AB.
During the annual shareholders meeting it was authorized to issue up to 3,000,000 new shares until the next meeting.
  • Details on the merger
    • O3 Games AB serves as a parent company and Starbreeze Studios AB as its subsidiary.
    • At the time of the acquisition O3 Games AB had 9 employees and Starbreeze Studios AB - around 8 employees.
  • August 30, 2001, Starbreeze Studios AB signs the USD 830,000 development contract with SWING! Entertainment Media AG, a German leading game publisher.
  • September 17, 2001, Starbreeze Studios signs another development contract with SWING! Entertainment Media AG. This time for USD 1,150,000.
  • February 27, 2002, Starbreeze Studios signs its largest development contract to date. The contract concerns the development of a game for three platforms. The publisher chose not to disclosure any further details until the middle of March.
Number of shares reaches 10,403,310.
  • March 15, 2002, Starbreeze Studios issues another 1,000 shares and the total number of shares reaches 11,403,310.
The details concerning the contract announced in February 27, 2000 press release are uncovered. The publisher name is revealed to be TDK Mediactive Europe, a division of TDK Recording Media Europe SA. Under the terms of the contract Starbreeze is to develop the Knights of the Temple video game. The game is scheduled for Q4 2003.
  • May 22, 2002, Vivendi Universal Games has acquired the rights to publish Enclave on the American market and shows it in their booth at the E3 show which takes place between the 22nd and 24th of May in Los Angeles.
  • May 27, 2002, Starbreeze Studios signs a contract with Conspiracy Entertainment to co-develop a game together with Rock Solid Studios. The game title is Tremors and it will be based on the Hollywood movie by the same name released in 1990.
  • July 12, 2002, Starbreeze Studios sells its Tremors development contract to Rock Solid Studios.
  • Early August 2002, Starbreeze Studios releases Enclave.
  • Enclave details
    • The game is licensed by SWING! Entertainment Media AG.
    • SWING! Entertainment Media AG published the Xbox version of the game in August 2002 in Europe.
    • Conspiracy Entertainment / Black Label Games (an imprint of Vivendi Universal Interactive) published the Xbox version of the game in August 2002 in US.
    • Atari published the PC version of the game in 2003 in Europe.
    • Conspiracy Entertainment / Black Label Games published the PC version of the game in March 2003 in US.
    • December 31, 2002, Enclave for Xbox sold approximately 177,000 copies.
  • November 1, 2002, Peter Törnquist appointed as a new Chairman of the Board.
  • November 27, 2002, O3 Games AB changes its name to Starbreeze AB.
  • December 2002, Starbreeze AB starts the acquisition of a Swedish game developing company Rock Solid Studios AB through the purchase of all of its shares from the parent company Fatalist Entertainment AB.
  • February 2003, before the acquisition of Rock Solid Studios AB was completed, problems concerning the intellectual property covered by the acquisition surfaced and the procedure was stopped.
  • February 13, 2003, Starbreeze AB terminates the agreement with SWING! Entertainment Media AB, which is on brink of bankruptcy.
  • July 2003, Nicklas Dunham is appointed as a new CEO of the company. Daniel Benitez retires from his post due to health reasons. Lars Hagelin remains at his post of vice president.
  • November, 2006. Starbreeze Studios started to work on the new Riddick game called The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena.
  • May 20, 2007, it's been confirmed that Starbreeze Studios is developing The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The game is promised to be released before the end of the year.
  • Summer 2007, it was decided to extend the production time of The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena project and increase its budget.
  • November 2007, Starbreeze Studios has started to work on a secret project codenamed Project RedLime. The project's designated publisher is Electronic Arts.
  • June 30, 2008, the number of Starbreeze AB shares reaches 374,951,478 with a price of USD 0.31 per share.
  • August 2008, Jens Andersson, one of the key people at Starbreeze, who has been with the company from the very start, has left. In January 2009 Jens starts working as a lead designer at LucasArts in San Francisco, USA.
  • July 9, 2008, following the announcement on December 2, 2007, Activision finishes the acquisition of Vivendi Games which had The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena publishing rights .
Following the events of acquisition, Activision choses to sell or close down some of the Vivendi titles that did not fit in the product portfolio and release schedule. The bidding on the Dark Athena with the intention to sell the project to other publisher has started.
  • October 2008, Atari acquires publishing rights to the new Riddick game from Activision / Vivendi Games.
  • December 22, 2008, Euroben Life & Pension Ltd is a new major shareholder in Starbreeze. Euroben owns 5 219 000 shares (1.4 percent) which places it on the eight place of ten largest Starbreeze shareholders. [1]
  • Spring 2009, Starbreeze Studios is set to release The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. It will be an international launch.
Retrieved from "http://www.ebobber.org/wiki/index.php?title=Starbreeze_Studios"
Personal tools