Supermassive Games Ltd
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
Founded2008; 16 years ago (2008)
FounderPete Samuels, Joe Samuels
HeadquartersGuildford, Surrey, England
Products
Number of employees
350[1]
ParentNordisk Film (2022–present)
WebsiteSupermassive Games

Supermassive Games Ltd is a British video game developer based in Guildford, Surrey. The studio is best known for developing horror games such as Until Dawn for Sony Interactive Entertainment, The Dark Pictures Anthology for Bandai Namco Entertainment, and The Quarry for 2K Games.

History

Supermassive Games was founded by Pete Samuels in 2008, who had previously worked at Psygnosis and Electronic Arts. The company signed a contract to serve as Sony's second-party developer. The studio first worked on downloadable content for Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet, and games utilizing the PlayStation Move motion controller including Sackboy's Prehistoric Moves and Start the Party!.[2] The strategy was a success initially, as the studio posted full-year sales of £5.7 million in 2011.[3] In 2012, the studio partnered with BBC and released Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock. It was intended to be the first game of a trilogy, but the game was poorly received. BBC then announced the decision to cancel all other games in the trilogy in the following year. Another partnership game with BBC, Wonderbook: Walking with Dinosaurs, was released in 2013.[4]

The studio's breakout title, Until Dawn, was also initially envisioned as a PlayStation Move title, though all motion controls were dropped when it was retooled into a PlayStation 4 game.[5] Until Dawn was a survival horror interactive movie inspired by slasher films, and it became an unexpected success for Sony when it was released in 2015.[6] With the success of Until Dawn, the studio continued to expand the Until Dawn universe, releasing spin-off titles including Until Dawn: Rush of Blood and The Inpatient for PlayStation VR, Sony's virtual reality headset.[7] The studio also released the critically panned Bravo Team for PSVR. Supermassive initially wanted it to be "the game which defines shooters on VR", but it faced various development challenges throughout its development cycle.[8]

Supermassive then returned to the horror genre when it partnered with publisher Bandai Namco Entertainment to create an anthology series called The Dark Pictures Anthology; the first game in the series is called The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan, which was released in August 2019. Unlike Supermassive's previous titles, which all but two were available exclusively on Sony platforms, all games in the Dark Pictures series will also be available on Microsoft platforms including Windows and Xbox One.[9] Supermassive plans on releasing a new entry in The Dark Pictures Anthology every 6 months, with a total of 8 games in the series, though more could be added if the series succeeds in sales.[10] Man of Medan was followed by Little Hope (2020), House of Ashes (2021) and The Devil in Me (2022) which concluded the first season.[11] Supermassive also released The Quarry in 2022, a standalone game envisioned as a spiritual successor to Until Dawn inspired by teen slasher and monster films.[12]

In March 2021, Nordisk Film, under their Nordisk Games division, purchased a 30.7% stake in the studio.[13] In July 2022, Nordisk Games fully acquired Supermassive Games, making Supermassive a subsidiary of the Denmark-based company.[14]

In January 2024, it was reported that the company co-founders left the company.[15] In February 2024, Jason Schreier of Bloomberg News reported that Supermassive Games had informed 150 employees that they were at risk of layoffs, ultimately cutting 90 personnel.[16][17]

Video games

Main article: List of games by Supermassive Games

Supermassive Games is known for interactive horror dramas including Until Dawn, The Dark Pictures Anthology, and The Quarry.[18]

References

  1. ^ "Supermassive Games - About". Archived from the original on 13 June 2022. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  2. ^ Treese, Tyler (11 August 2015). "Until Dawn Developer and Their Supermassive History With Sony". PlayStation LifeStyle. Archived from the original on 8 September 2021. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
  3. ^ Loizou, Kiki (9 December 2012). "How I Made It: Pete Samuels, founder of Supermassive Games". The Times. Archived from the original on 8 September 2021. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
  4. ^ Ray Corriea, Alexa (11 July 2013). "Supermassive Games still working on Until Dawn, no more Doctor Who games". Polygon. Archived from the original on 8 September 2021. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
  5. ^ McCaffery, Ryan (13 August 2014). "Until Dawn Rebooted For PS4, and It's Terrifying". IGN. Archived from the original on 21 November 2018. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  6. ^ Nunneley, Stephany (30 September 2015). "Sony was surprised by the "positive reaction" to sleeper hit Until Dawn". VG 247. Archived from the original on 1 May 2019. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  7. ^ "Doctor Who, Until Dawn, virtual reality: the transformation of Supermassive Games". MCVUK. 10 June 2016. Archived from the original on 8 September 2021. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
  8. ^ Phillips, Tom (27 March 2018). "What went wrong with PSVR exclusive Bravo Team, the "Halo of VR shooters"". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 8 September 2021. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
  9. ^ O'Brien, Lucy (21 August 2018). "Supermassive Games Announces Horror Series The Dark Pictures Anthology - Gamescom 2018". IGN. Archived from the original on 21 August 2018. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  10. ^ Hargreaves, Jim (22 August 2019). "Expect two games from The Dark Pictures Anthology per year". The Sixth Axis. Archived from the original on 22 August 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  11. ^ "The Next Dark Pictures Anthology Game Has Been Revealed". Archived from the original on 21 October 2021. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  12. ^ "Supermassive Games' the Quarry has its full, horrifying reveal ahead of June release". Eurogamer.net. 17 March 2022. Archived from the original on 17 October 2022. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  13. ^ "Nordisk Games acquires 30% stake in Supermassive". gamesindustry.biz. Archived from the original on 29 March 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  14. ^ "Nordisk Games acquires Supermassive Games". Gematsu. 12 July 2022. Archived from the original on 15 July 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  15. ^ Scullion, Chris (1 February 2024). "Supermassive Games co-founders have left the company". Video Games Chronicle. Archived from the original on 1 February 2024. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
  16. ^ "British Game Maker Supermassive Set to Lay Off 90 Workers". Bloomberg.com. 26 February 2024. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  17. ^ Square, Push (26 February 2024). "Layoffs Hit Until Dawn, Dark Pictures Dev Supermassive Games, 90 People Affected". Push Square. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  18. ^ "About". Supermassive Games. Archived from the original on 4 March 2024. Retrieved 6 March 2024.

External links

Supermassive Games
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