Halfbrick Studios Pty Ltd
Company typePrivate
IndustryVideo games
Founded2001; 23 years ago (2001) In Toowong, Australia
Headquarters
Brisbane
,
Australia
Number of locations
3 (2019)
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Shainiel Deo (CEO)
ProductsVideo games
Number of employees
30 (2019)
Websitehalfbrick.com

Halfbrick Studios Pty Ltd is an Australian video game developer based in Brisbane.[1] The company primarily worked on licensed games until 2008. The company is best known for Fruit Ninja (2010), Jetpack Joyride (2011), and Dan the Man (2015).[2][3][1] They create games for Windows, Xbox, PlayStation, Windows Phone, Android and iOS.[2]

Outside of their Brisbane headquarters, Halfbrick also has offices in Sydney, Adelaide, Spain, Bulgaria, and Los Angeles.[4] In March 2012, Halfbrick Studios acquired Onan Games for an undisclosed price to make use of their software Mandreel, which allows games to support iOS, Android, Adobe Flash and HTML5 development.[5]

In 2013, COO Luke Muscat held a Game Developers Conference talk about a physical game, Tank Turn Tactics, that was invented to be played internally by studio employees, but had to be banned due to its impact on workplace morale. The ability to gift "action points" to allies caused factions to form within the office, leading to betrayals that made employees refuse to work together.[6][7][8] Tank Turn Tactics was also featured in a 2021 documentary by People Make Games.[9]

In 2017, Halfbrick Studios was inducted into the QBLHOF.[10] Halfbrick is one of Australia's fastest growing companies, and is among Australia's most notable cultural exports.[11]

Fruit Ninja

By 2012, Fruit Ninja was on one third of all iPhones in the United States.[12] By 2015, the game had been downloaded over 1 billion times.[13] In 2020, the company announced a "complete rebuild" of the game with a new engine and new graphics.[12]

Games

Year Title Platform(s)
2002 Rocket Power: Beach Bandits[14] GameCube, PlayStation 2
2003 Fuzz & Rocket (cancelled) Game Boy Advance
2004 Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2: Bush Rescue
2005 Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 3: Night of the Quinkan
2006 Barnyard
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Nicktoons: Battle for Volcano Island
2007 Heatseeker PlayStation Portable
Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Burning Earth Game Boy Advance
The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night PlayStation 2, Wii
2008 Hellboy: The Science of Evil PlayStation Portable
Avatar: The Last Airbender – Into the Inferno Nintendo DS
2009 Marvel Super Hero Squad
Halfbrick Blast Off Xbox 360, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3
Halfbrick Echoes Xbox 360, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, Zune HD
Halfbrick Rocket Racing / Aero Racing Xbox 360, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3
2010 Age of Zombies iOS, Android, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita, Ouya
Fruit Ninja iOS, Android, Bada, Windows Phone, Symbian
Sunset Studio: Behind the Scenes! Microsoft Windows
The Last Airbender Nintendo DS
Monster Dash iOS, Android
Raskulls Xbox 360
2011 de Blob 2 Nintendo DS
Fruit Ninja HD Microsoft Windows
Fruit Ninja FX Arcade
Fruit Ninja Kinect Xbox 360
Fruit Ninja Frenzy Facebook
Age of Zombies iOS, Android
Monster Dash Google Chrome
Jetpack Joyride Android, iOS
Fruit Ninja: Puss In Boots
Steambirds: Survival
Age of Zombies Anniversary iOS
2012 Jetpack Joyride Android, BlackBerry OS, Facebook, PlayStation Vita, Windows Runtime
Fruit Ninja (Microsoft Store) Windows Runtime
2013 Fish out of Water Android, iOS
Fruit Ninja (Leap Motion) Microsoft Windows
Fruit Ninja Skittles Android, iOS
Band Stars
Colossatron: Massive World Threat
2014 Bears vs. Art
Birzzle Fever
Yes Chef
Radical Rappelling
Top Farm
2015 Fruit Ninja Kinect 2 Xbox One
Fruit Ninja Academy: Math Master Android, iOS
2016 Fruit Ninja VR Microsoft Windows, PlayStation VR
Star Skater Android, iOS
Dan The Man
2019 Magic Brick Wars
2020 Battle Racing Stars
Wobble Drop
Fruit Ninja 2
2022 Jetpack Joyride 2 iOS
2023 Fruit Ninja VR 2 Microsoft Windows
TBA Dan the Man 2 iOS, Android

References

  1. ^ a b Tiara, Annisa (10 January 2023). "How Halfbrick increased user acquisition by 98% midst competitive gaming industry". The Drum. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
  2. ^ a b Lardinois, Frederic (3 March 2013). "How Halfbrick Studios Develops Games Like Fruit Ninja, Age Of Zombies, Dan da man And Jetpack Joyride". TechCrunch. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
  3. ^ "Halfbrick's Platformer 'Dan the Man' Launching October 6th". Touch Arcade. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
  4. ^ Snowdon, Tom (28 March 2014). "Step inside the Brisbane lab of Fruit Ninja app creators Halfbrick Studios, with Queensland Business Monthly". The Courier-Mail. News Corp. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  5. ^ Takahashi, Dean (19 March 2012). "Halfbrick Studios acquires Onan Games for quick cross-platform ports". GamesBeat. VentureBeat. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  6. ^ "Tank Tactics: The prototype that almost ruined Halfbrick". Engadget. 2 April 2013. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
  7. ^ Andrew, Keith (29 March 2013). "#GDC 2013: How a game that never was almost tore Halfbrick apart". Pocket Gamer. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
  8. ^ Scimeca, Dennis (3 April 2013). "Halfbrick's Luke Muscat talks Tank Turn Tactics: The prototype the studio was forced to ban". Pocket Gamer. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
  9. ^ Walker, Alex (21 July 2021). "Halfbrick Once Made A Game So Good They Banned It From Their Office". Kotaku Australia. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
  10. ^ "Halfbrick Studios". Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame. 2017. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  11. ^ "Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame". Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame | State Library Of Queensland. Retrieved 25 September 2022.
  12. ^ a b "Fruit Ninja Is Getting Remastered". Kotaku Australia. 12 October 2020. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
  13. ^ Serrels, Mark (8 November 2016). "Australia's Most Successful Game Studio Is Having An Identity Crisis". Kotaku. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
  14. ^ "Halfbrick Studios – Rocket Power: Beach Bandits". halfbrick.com. Halfbrick Studios. Archived from the original on 21 November 2008. Retrieved 14 November 2023.

External links

Halfbrick Studios
Categories