Kuju Entertainment

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kuju Entertainment
legal form Limited
founding 1998
Seat London , UKUnited KingdomUnited Kingdom 
management Dominic Wheatly
Branch Software development
Website www.kuju.com

Kuju Entertainment is a British contract developer for computer games .

history

The company was founded in 1998 after a management buyout of the Simis studio in Shalford , Surrey, UK . This had been taken over by the British publisher Eidos Interactive three years earlier and was bought back by the two studio founders Ian Baverstock and Jonathan Newth. The name "Kuju" is derived from the first letter of the first name of the two company founders. These correspond to the ninth or tenth letter of the alphabet, which in Japanese corresponds to “ku” and “ju” in the same place. The name Simis was used as a label for the studio's flight simulations for a few years and was finally abandoned. Kuju Entertainment takes on commissioned work for a large number of well-known publishers and develops for all leading gaming platforms.

In 2004/2005 Kuju contributed parts to the development of EyeToy: Play 2 and EyeToy: Play 3 for the PlayStation 2. In addition, the company developed the multiplayer mode for Call of Duty: Finest Hour . Battalion Wars was also released for the Nintendo GameCube in 2005 . In December 2005, Kuju sold its mobile phone publishing division, Kuju Wireless Publishing, to The Finesse Publishing Group.

In 2006, the action role-playing game Dark Messiah of Might and Magic , for which Kuju developed the multiplayer mode, and a remake of Sensible Soccer developed by Kuju . In December 2006 the German investment group Catalis , a service provider in the field of digital content, submitted a takeover offer for Kuju Entertainment in the amount of 4.375 million pounds, the equivalent of around 6.53 million euros. Kuju's Board of Directors supported the takeover offer.

In 2007 several games developed by Kuju were released. On the one hand Battalion Wars 2 for the Wii , on the other hand for the PC the Rail Simulator , a spiritual successor to the Microsoft Train Simulator and EyeToy Play Sports for the PS2. For Atari Kuju designed the turn-based role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons Tactics for the handheld console PlayStation Portable . On March 1, 2007, Kuju's development studio in Brighton was renamed Zoë Mode. Studio manager Ed Daly described the choice of name as follows: “ We've created Zoë Mode; she is the personality that reflects our in-house philosophy of accessible, fun gaming for everyone. Zoë Mode does not represent one individual but represents the developers at the studio, the culture of the studio and the consumers. "(German:" We invented Zoë Mode. She is the personality that reflects our in-house philosophy of accessibility and fun for everyone. Zoë Mode does not represent an individual, but rather the developers in our studio, the studio culture and the customers . ”) On June 25, 2007, Kuju announced that the development studio in Sheffield had been renamed Chemistry and would specialize in the development of games based on Unreal Engine 3 . The developer doublesix, who specializes in download titles, was founded in November 2007, and in December 2007 Kuju opened the Nik Nak studio, which focuses on children's software.

On January 1, 2008, Kuju America opened a US office in San Francisco for the first time. John Kavanagh, former Head of Development at Domark and Eidos Interactive, was entrusted with the management . At the beginning of July 2008 a branch of Zoë Mode was founded in London, on July 29, 2008 Kuju also announced the renaming of its studio Kuju London to Headstrong Games. This originally focused on the development of Wii titles and published for Sega The House of the Dead: Overkill and The Lord of the Rings: The Adventures of Aragorn for Warner Bros. Later publications also included the Nintendo DS title Art Academy which has sold 500,000 copies in the UK. On October 21, 2008, Kuju announced the takeover of Matahari Studios in Manila , which was renamed Kuju Manila and was mainly intended to provide preliminary work for the projects of the other Kuju development studios .

Chemistry was closed in April 2009. Instead, Kuju founded an offshoot of his studio Zoë Mode in San Francisco in June 2009. In July 2009 the studio Vatra Games, based in the Czech Republic, followed, whose focus was placed on action games for the Xbox 360 , PlayStation 3 and the PC.

In February 2010, Kuju announced the closure of Kuju Manila and the incorporation of Nik Nak into Zoë Mode. On April 7, 2010, it was announced that Nigel Robbins would take over the role of CEO from founders Jonathan Newth and Ian Baverstock, who would remain attached to the company as members of the board of directors. In July 2010, Zoë Mode London was closed and merged with the original studio in Guildford. In September 2010, at the instigation of the parent company Catalis, doublesix was separated from Kuju and continued as an independent entity.

In 2012 the title Silent Hill: Downpour , developed by Vatra for Konami , appeared , after which the studio was given up in summer 2012. In June 2012 Dominic Wheatly, co-founder of Domark and former COO of Eidos Interactive, took over the position of CEO.

Development studios

  • Headstrong Games (founded as Kuju London)
  • Zoë Mode (founded as Kuju Brighton)
  • Zoë Mode Guildford (founded as Nik Nak)
  • Zoë Mode San Francisco

Former studios

  • Chemistry (founded as Kuju Sheffield)
  • doublesix (outsourced and continued independently)
  • Kuju Manila (formerly Matahari Studios)
  • Vatra Games
  • Zoë Mode London

Published titles

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ nordmedia.de  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.nordmedia.de  
  2. ↑ Simis at MobyGames (English)
  3. ↑ gamasutra.com
  4. ↑ gamezone.de
  5. ↑ gamasutra.com
  6. ↑ netzwelt.de
  7. ↑ Investment group makes GBP 4.4 million offer for Kuju Plc
  8. ↑ videogamer.com
  9. ↑ ign.com
  10. ↑ Kuju studio becomes Zoë Mode
  11. ↑ Kuju Sheffield studio rebrands
  12. ↑ Kuju establishes new download-focused studio doublesix ( Memento from October 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  13. ↑ Kuju opens new Nik Nak studio aimed at kids ( Memento from October 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  14. ^ Kuju targets casual market with new US studio
  15. ↑ kotaku.com
  16. ↑ mcvuk.com ( Memento of the original from February 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.mcvuk.com
  17. ↑ Kuju expands to the Philippines ( Memento of the original from October 25, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.developmag.com
  18. ↑ kotaku.com
  19. ↑ kotaku.com
  20. ↑ Kuju Announces New Studio Developing PS3, 360 and PC Projects ( Memento from September 16, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
  21. ↑ Kuju closes Manila branch, integrates kid-focused studio ( Memento from January 28, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  22. ↑ Baverstock & Newth step down from Kuju ( Memento from January 16, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  23. ↑ gamesindustry.biz
  24. ↑ develop-online.net ( Memento of the original from September 5, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.develop-online.net
  25. ↑ gamesindustry.biz
  26. ↑ gamesindustry.biz