Velan Studios
Company typePrivate
IndustryVideo games
FoundedNovember 2016; 7 years ago (2016-11)
Founders
  • Guha Bala
  • Karthik Bala
Headquarters
Troy, New York
,
US
Key people
  • Guha Bala (President)
  • Karthik Bala (CEO)
  • Kerry Coffey (CFO)
  • David Nathanielsz (COO)
Products
Number of employees
75[1] (2024)
Websitevelanstudios.com

Velan Studios is an American video game developer based in Troy, New York. Founded in 2016 by Guha Bala and Karthik Bala, the studio is most known for developing Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit (2020) and Knockout City (2021).

History

Velan Studios was founded in November 2016 by Guha Bala and Karthik Bala. The Bala brothers previously founded Vicarious Visions in 1991 and left the company in April 2016.[2] According to the founders, the studio aimed to develop "breakthrough experimental games",[3] and the term "velan" stands for "spear bearer" in Tamil. In July 2017, the team successfully raised $7 million in venture capital for their first project.[4] The studio's first game was Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit. The team completed the game's first prototype in 2017 and Nintendo greenlit the project after meeting the team in their headquarters in Kyoto. Home Circuit utilizes physical radio-controlled cars responding to how the player plays in-game, and Velan Studios was responsible for developing the software, while Nintendo focused on creating the hardware.[5] The game received generally positive reviews when it was released in October 2020.

In March 2019, Electronic Arts announced that it had partnered with Velan Studios to release a "team-based action" game.[6] The game was published under the EA Originals program, EA's initiative to support independent games. The program allowed the studio to retain full creative control while receiving most of the game's profit after development cost was recouped. The game, titled Knockout City, was released in May 2021. The game attracted 2 million players within its first week of release.[7] However, in June of 2023, the game and servers were subsequently shut down due to low player retention.

Games

Year Title Platform(s) Publisher
2020 Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit Nintendo Switch Nintendo
2021 Knockout City Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S Electronic Arts (2021–2022)
Velan Studios (2022-2023)
2023 Hot Wheels: Rift Rally iOS, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 Velan Studios

References

  1. ^ https://www.gameinformer.com/2024/03/22/knockout-city-developer-velan-studios-may-potentially-suffer-significant-layoffs
  2. ^ Futter, Mike (April 5, 2016). "Vicarious Visions Co-Founder Brothers Depart After 25 Years". Game Informer. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  3. ^ "Bala brothers found Velan studios". Market for Computer & Video Games. November 21, 2016. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
  4. ^ Takahashi, Dean (July 11, 2017). "Ex-Activision veterans raise $7 million for Velan Studios game startup". VentureBeat. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
  5. ^ McFerran, Damien (October 20, 2020). "Feature: Nintendo And Velan Studios On Bringing Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit Into The (Real) World". Nintendo Life. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
  6. ^ Takahashi, Dean (March 25, 2019). "EA signs publishing deal with Skylanders veterans at Velan Studios". VentureBeat. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
  7. ^ Clayton, Natelie (May 25, 2021). "Knockout City already has over 2 million players". PC Gamer. Retrieved May 31, 2021.

External links

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