 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 2005 |
| Defunct | September 7, 2018 |
| Headquarters | Aliso Viejo, California, U.S. |
| Products | WildStar |
| Parent | NCSOFT |
| Website | http://www.carbinestudios.com/ |
Carbine Studios was a video game developer and subsidiary of NCSOFT, founded in 2005 by former members of Blizzard Entertainment. They were the developers of the online role-playing game WildStar.
Carbine's founders were 17 former members of Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft development team. Since then, they have employed key personnel from games such as Diablo II, StarCraft, Metroid Prime, Fallout, EverQuest, City of Heroes, Half-Life 2 and many from other titles. The company was acquired by NCSOFT in 2007.[1]
In March 2016, NCSOFT announced a reorganization and Polygon says more than 70 Carbine employees were laid off; this is about 40% of the studio.[2] The studio will still focus on Wildstar development for its players, but the studio cancelled the planned Chinese version of the game.
In April 2017, job postings hiring for an unannounced title were added to the Carbine website. These mentioned use of Unreal Engine, and for applicants who have experience with "AAA cooperative multiplayer experience, multiplayer action combat titles."[3]
On September 6, 2018, NCSoft announced that Carbine Studios would be closed immediately and would "begin the process of winding WildStar down".[4]
WildStar, a science fantasy MMORPG was the only game released by Carbine Studios. The game, while it achieved initial success, dwindled over the next four years. The initial release model of subscription-based access to the game was abandoned and restructured into a free-to-play model with in-game microtransactions available. Wildstar was announced to be closed on November 28, 2018, via the game's website and the official Steam forums.