UltraNitro Studios is American game developer, based in Santa Monica. The studio also has offices in Montreal.
History[]
The studio was founded by Edward Fowly, Sam Garcia and Michael Wildshill in 2013. Ubisoft contacted UltraNitro Studios after the founding of the studio. They also were modifying a game engine GeoBob Engine with "Balls" Studios Riverside. The studio hired most of it's employees from many studios, such as Ubisoft Montreal, Bizzare Creations and Columbia TriStar Interactive.
On June 11, 2014, Balls Corporation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. At the public auction on June 21, 2014, Balls Corporation’s game development business in:
- London (England, UK)
- Beijing (China)
- Stockholm (Sweden)
- Hamburg (Germany, remaining half of split of Fishlabs after acquisition by both UltraNitro Studios and "Balls")
and few intellectual properties and unfinished projects were acquired by and merged to UltraNitro Studios, once again. Soon, the Abu Dhabi studios were bought by Starway Games. Balls Corporation is no longer filed for bankruptcy.
UltraNitro Studios announced to delay DoBI: The Game and Operation Bigworld until late 2015. Redwood City, Chertsey and Seattle studios were announced to open in September 2014. In 2015, UltraNitro Studios hired video game development veterans, who previously worked at WarGaming.com, Ensemble Studios, Carbine Studios and more, into it's new Seattle and Redwood studios.
They formed True Gameworks in April 2015, to develop serious games and simulation games. A week later, True Gameworks and Lionsgate Entertainment announced a partnership deal to create and publish games based on Lionsgate's selected intellectual properties. UltraNitro Studios announced to spin off it's Stunlock studio after July 2nd, 2015.
On May 2016, UltraNitro Studios spun off as an independent company. They also hired 25 employees from Nintendo European Research & Development for its Montreal office.
The Patapon/LocoRoco cross-over game resumed production soon, with Guerilla Games and Team Gravity still on board, but as a PS4 game, with Sony Interactive Entertainment as a publisher, instead of its mobile division ForwardWorks.
On January 27th, 2017, UltraNitro Studios hired:
- 22 employees from Camelot Software Planning,
- 64 employees from Creatures Inc,
- 100 employees from Eighting,
- 11 employees from Genius Sonority,
- 75 employees from HAL Laboratory,
- 110 employees from Intelligent Systems,
- 12 employees from Nintendo Australia,
- and 15 employees from 1-Up Studio
Soon, UltraNitro Studios Japan expanded and became the second-party developer for Nintendo and Microsoft, becoming a joint venture between Nintendo (15%), Microsoft Studios (15%), Microsoft Japan (5%), Sega Sammy Holdings (1%), Bandai Namco Holdings (5%) and UltraNitro Studios themselves (59%).
Subsidiaries[]
- UltraNitro Studios Santa Monica, founded in June 2013. Currently employing 80 employees.
- UltraNitro Studios Montreal, formed in August 2013. Currently employing 70 staff members.
- UltraNitro Studios London, located in Silverton Way/Liverpool Street, London, England, formed in May 2014, currently responsible of Ohm game engine and formerly GeoBob Engine. Currently employing 13 staff members.
- UltraNitro Studios Russia, formed in April 2015 as an additional development, support and game translation office of True Gameworks. Re-branded as UltraNitro Studios Russia in January 2017. Responsible for Ohm game engine and the Patapon/LocoRoco cross-over game.
Acquired and/or co-owned[]
- Iron Galaxy Studios, acquired in June 2014, currently responsible for Killer Instinct, DLCs of the upcoming UltraNitro Studios games and Ohm game engine. Second studio not to be named after the parent company. Has offices in Chicago, Orlando and Seattle.
- Iron Galaxy Australia, formed in June 2014 as UltraNitro Studios Australia after the acquisition of "Balls" Studios Sydney while Balls Corporation was filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Rebranded as Iron Galaxy Australia in January 2017.
- UltraNitro Studios Japan, located at Sapporo, Japan. Formed in June 2014 in Tokyo, Japan, after the "huge chaos" at UltraNitro Studios. Closed in August 2014, after being bought by Team Chu. Relaunched after the acquisition of ND Cube's Sapporo office. A joint venture between UltraNitro, Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Japan, Bandai Namco, Sega Sammy and Nintendo.
Former[]
- UltraNitro Fishlabs, also trading as UltraNitro Studios Germany, formed in June 2014, after the "huge chaos" at UltraNitro Studios and the acquisition of Fishlabs Entertainment, was responsible of GeoBob Engine and Ohm game engine. It soon spun-off from UltraNitro Studios.
- UltraNitro Studios Seattle, announced in December 2014 and formed in March 2015. Merged into Iron Galaxy Studios in January 2017.
Sold[]
- Stunlock Studios, also trading as UltraNitro Studios Sweden and it's legal name: UltraNitro Stunlock, formed in February 2014, after the acquisition of Stunlock Studios. Responsible for Ohm game engine and GeoBob Engine. Spun off in July 3rd, 2014.
- True Gameworks, formed in April 2015 at London, UK. Sold to Skydance Interactive in Januay 2017.
Games[]
- Geoshea U (2014)
- Geo Adventure 2015 (2015)
- Smash Fight 5 (2015)
Cancelled[]
- Furryous Kart 2 (TBA)
- MeleeKart (TBA)