Cryptic Studios
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Cryptic Studios | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Type | Private |
| Founded |  California 2000 |
| Headquarters | Los Gatos, California |
| Key people | Michael Lewis, CEO; Bruce Rogers, CTO; Jack Emmert, CCO; Ed Roffman, CFO |
| Industry | Computer gaming |
| Products | City of Heroes, City of Villains, Champions Online |
| Employees | 100 - 200 (2007) |
| Website | http://www.crypticstudios.com |
Cryptic Studios is a privately-held, American developer of massively multiplayer online role-playing games headquartered in Los Gatos, California.
Contents |
[edit] History
Established in June 2000, the idea for Cryptic Studios was conceived by Michael Lewis and Rick Dakan.
"Rick and I wanted to do an online role-playing game," Lewis told the Los Gatos Weekly Times for an article published January 31, 2007. "We'd been role-playing gamers growing up, and thought that online would be a great way to continue that experience, while overcoming the distances involved. We decided that there were too many fantasy games in development -- this was 1999, so we discussed many alternatives. Superheroes quickly rose to the top of the list. It is something people could understand and identify with quickly, versus ideas like science fiction or horror, because it provides an infinite background on which to create adventures of all kinds. And who doesn't want to have super powers?"[1]
At a New Year's party in 1999, Lewis and Dakan met Bruce Rogers, Matt Harvey and Cameron Petty, veterans of Atari's Coin Operated Games division who were trying to found a computer game company but lacked funding.
In 2000, Lewis sold his company, Stellar Semiconductor, Inc., to Broadcom Corporation. With Lewis' funding and Rogers' expertise, Cryptic Studios was formed. Role-playing game writer Jack Emmert was added to the team to work on game design.
In early 2002, Cryptic signed a pubishing agreement for City of Heroes with NCSoft, which was looking to expand into the United States gaming market.[2]
Cryptic Studios began actively recruiting employees in 2006 to work on its upcoming Marvel Universe Online and other titles (Marvel Universe Online has since been cancelled.).[3]
In March 2007, Cryptic Studios moved to a larger corporate headquarters in Los Gatos, CA. Plans for the new headquarters include adding a state-of-the-art sound studio to be built by the Walters-Storyk Design Group.[4] At that time the company also adopted a new corporate logo. Cryptic Studios now employs more than 100 full-time employees.
On November 6, 2007, Cryptic announced that it had sold the City of Heroes/City of Villains intellectual property to NCSoft. Most of the City of Heroes/City of Villains development team were transitioned over to a newly formed NCSoft NorCal studio in Mountain View to continue development on the game. [5]
Cryptic was developing Marvel Universe Online, which is now cancelled and one or more other unannounced projects.
On February 14, 2008, Cryptic announced it would be working on Champions Online. A month later, on March 13, Star Trek news site TrekMovie.com reported having confirmed with "sources" that the new developer of Star Trek Online would be Cryptic Studios, as had been the rumor for several weeks.[6]
[edit] Products
Cryptic Studios' first MMORPG, City of Heroes, was launched on April 28, 2004. On October 31, 2005, it launched City of Villains, a separate game that was linked with City of Heroes through player-vs.-player combat zones.
As of July 2007, Cryptic Studios has released ten free expansions for City of Heroes and City of Villains.
On September 27, 2006, Marvel Entertainment and Cryptic announced that Cryptic Studios is developing Marvel Universe Online, the Marvel Comics universe MMO video game to be published by Microsoft Game Studios for exclusive release to Xbox 360 and Windows Vista.[7] February 7, 2008, Shane Kim of Microsoft Game Studios reported that MUO was canceled.[8]
On May 9, 2007, Cryptic Studios released the Cryptic Animation Rig (Cryptic AR), a free download that gives animators the same tools used by Cryptic to create its games.[9]
Cryptic Studios' Web site contains several images of concept art from one or more additional games currently in development.[10]
[edit] Executives
As of August 2007, the executives of Cryptic Studios are: [11]
- Michael Lewis, chief executive officer
- Bruce Rogers, chief technology officer
- Jack Emmert, chief creative officer
- Shannon Posniewski, director of game programming
- Craig Zinkievich, executive producer
- Shayne Herrera, art development director
- Robert Westmoreland, director of business development
[edit] Corporate Culture
According to its Web site, "Cryptic Studios' development process is centered on efficiently structured teams working together in a collaborative atmosphere to create high quality games."[12]
Cryptic Studios actively recruits outside the gaming industry, and executives say they focus on skill, talent and intelligence rather than experience.[13] Employee benefits include full medical, dental and vision insurance, vacation, a 401K, tuition reimbursement, complementary breakfasts twice a week and an on-site game room. The company says it offers a "casual, dynamic environment" and tries to strike a balance between employees' work and personal lives.[14]
[edit] See Also
[edit] References
- ^ Los Gatos Weekly-Times - Cover Story | 0705 | Wednesday, January 31, 2007
- ^ Ordinary Hero - Forbes.com
- ^ City of Heroes : Cryptic Studios Recruitment - City of Heroes for PC at MMORPG.COM
- ^ Game Invasion: News
- ^ City of Heroes Announcement. “Regarding the NCSoft Acquisition of City of Heroes”
- ^ Cryptic Confirmed As New Developer for Star Trek Online
- ^ Marvel Universe Online Announced
- ^ Shane Kim on MUO cancellation
- ^ Cryptic Animation Rig - Home
- ^ Cryptic Studios - Home
- ^ Cryptic Studios - Cryptic Studios Executive Team
- ^ Cryptic Studios - Home
- ^ City of Heroes : Cryptic Studios Recruitment - City of Heroes for PC at MMORPG.COM
- ^ Cryptic Studios - Cryptic Employee Benefits
