Foundation 9 Entertainment

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Foundation 9 Entertainment
legal form Inc.
founding March 29, 2005
resolution May 2015
Seat Emeryville , California , USA
management James North-Hearn
Branch Entertainment media
As of October 18, 2018

Foundation 9 Entertainment ( F9E for short ) was an American entertainment media company from 2005 to 2015 that developed video games, comic books, film and television series.

history

Foundation 9 Entertainment was founded on March 29, 2005 through the merger of the game development studios Backbone Entertainment (with the brands Digital Eclipse Software and ImaginEngine ) and The Collective . In this way, both studios wanted to enlarge themselves for the increasingly complex development work and make them future-proof. A period of rapid growth followed.

In April 2005, the company took over the developer Pipeworks Software . In May 2005, F9E invested in Circle of Confusion, a company that brokered strategic partnerships in the creative and entertainment industries, particularly in Hollywood. In February 2006, F9E announced the establishment of a new backbone development studio in Charlottetown , Prince Edward Island, Canada .

On June 1, 2006, F9E received $ 150 million from investment firm Francisco Partners for business expansion, branding, and acquisitions. At the time, the company had published around 300 titles and had sales of one billion US dollars. This was followed in October 2006 by the acquisition of Shiny Entertainment from Atari and in November 2006 from Amaze Entertainment including the subsidiary studios Griptonite Games and The Fizz Factor . On May 25, 2007, Backbone PEI (Charlottetown) was spun off from the company and became independent under the name Other Ocean Interactive . According to a press release from F9E, the studio was too small and did not fit into the business strategy. In August 2007, F9E took over British developer Sumo Digital instead .

Internal consolidations and closings followed the two-year growth phase. In October 2007, The Collective and Shiny merged in a new studio in Irvine , California , to provide enough staff for future game projects. The process was completed in March 2008 with the renaming to Double Helix Games . While F9E initially closed the Vancouver backbone studio in May 2009, The Fizz Factor ceased operations in July 2009 and Amaze Entertainment was incorporated into Griptonite Games.

In August 2011, F9E sold Griptonite Games to Glu Mobile . A year later, in October 2012, Backbone laid off almost all of its staff at the Emeryville studio and the ImaginEngine studio in Boston had to close. In February 2014 Amazon took over the subsidiary Double Helix Games, in the course of 2014 the Italian group Digital Bros. ( 505 Games ) acquired the studio Pipeworks Software. In November 2014, Sumo Digital bought itself free through a management buyout from Foundation 9 Entertainment and regained its independence.

Foundation 9 Entertainment was finally dissolved in May 2015.

Parts of the company

Founding company

Acquisitions

Mergers and spin-offs

Holdings

  • Circle of Confusion (2005)

Games

  • 2008: Ben Stein: It's Trivial
  • 2008: Silent Hill: Homecoming
  • 2009: Diner Dash
  • 2009: Where the Wild Things Are
  • 2009: Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
  • 2010: Rock Band 3
  • 2010: Front Mission Evolved
  • 2010: Deadliest Warrior: The Game
  • 2010: Dungeon Solitaire

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Backbone and Collective merge . In: Eurogamer.net . ( eurogamer.net [accessed November 30, 2018]).
  2. ^ Foundation 9 Entertainment, Inc. Acquires Pipeworks Software . In: GamesIndustry.biz . ( gamesindustry.biz [accessed November 30, 2018]).
  3. ^ Foundation 9 teams up with Hollywood management specialists . In: GamesIndustry.biz . ( gamesindustry.biz [accessed November 30, 2018]).
  4. ↑ Foundation 9 Entertainment Expands With New Studio . In: GamesIndustry.biz . ( gamesindustry.biz [accessed November 30, 2018]).
  5. ^ Simon Carless: Gamasutra - The Art & Business of Making Games. Retrieved November 28, 2018 .
  6. ^ Foundation 9 acquires Shiny . In: Eurogamer.net . ( eurogamer.net [accessed November 28, 2018]).
  7. ↑ Gamespot Staff: Foundation 9 Amazed. In: GameSpot. November 14, 2006. Retrieved November 28, 2018 (American English).
  8. ↑ Foundation 9 says goodbye to Charlottetown ( Memento June 7, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  9. ↑ Foundation 9 Entertainment Spins Off Prince Edward Island Studio ( January 30, 2009 memento in the Internet Archive )
  10. ↑ Sumo Digital bought by Foundation 9 . In: MCV . ( mcvuk.com [accessed November 28, 2018]).
  11. ↑ Brandon Boyer: Foundation 9 To Merge Collective And Shiny Studios. In: Gamasutra . October 10, 2007, accessed November 28, 2018 .
  12. ↑ Double Helix Games - Shiny and The Collective merge. In: Gamepro . Retrieved November 24, 2018 .
  13. ^ Foundation 9 closes Fizz Factor studio, cuts back at Double Helix . In: Engadget . ( engadget.com [accessed November 30, 2018]).
  14. ↑ Glu Mobile Acquires Griptonite, Blammo Games for Stock, Earnouts Worth More Than $ 50M - Adweek. Retrieved November 30, 2018 (American English).
  15. ↑ Mike Rose: Layoffs at digital game studio Backbone Entertainment . ( gamasutra.com [accessed November 30, 2018]).
  16. ↑ ImaginEngine game studio shuts down (exclusive) . In: VentureBeat . October 12, 2012 ( venturebeat.com [accessed November 30, 2018]).
  17. ↑ Double Helix Games: Amazon buys developer studio - Golem.de . ( golem.de [accessed October 19, 2018]).
  18. ↑ Sherri Buri McDonald: Game maker puts down roots by buying downtown building . In: The Register-Guard . February 11, 2016, p. A1 ( online [accessed October 19, 2018]).
  19. ↑ Sumo exec team completes management buyout . In: GamesIndustry.biz . ( gamesindustry.biz [accessed October 19, 2018]).