Gearbox Software

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Gearbox Software
Type Private
Founded Plano, Texas, USA (1999)
Founder Randy Pitchford
Brian Martel
Stephen Bahl
Landon Montgomery
Rob Heironimus
Headquarters Plano, Texas, USA
Industry Software & Programming
Employees 150+
Website http://www.gearboxsoftware.com

Gearbox Software, LLC is an American video game development company based in Plano, Texas, USA.

They are best known for a number of high-profile PC and console games such as Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30, Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood, Halo: Combat Evolved for PC, and the Half-Life expansion packs Opposing Force and Blue Shift.

Gearbox is currently developing original titles for next generation video game consoles, portable systems, and Windows Vista, including: Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway; Aliens: Colonial Marines; Borderlands; a new Samba de Amigo game for the Wii; and at least one other unannounced project.

Gearbox has worked with many of the top publishers in the industry including Ubisoft, Sega, 2K Games, Microsoft Game Studios, Electronic Arts, Activision, and Vivendi Games, and has partnered with other studios such as Bungie, Epic Games, Valve Software, Gameloft, Ritual Entertainment, Escalation Studios, Demiurge Studios, WayForward Technologies and Mad Doc Software. The studio occupies the top four floors of a high-rise office building located in Plano, Texas (near Dallas, Texas). The company maintains its independent status.

Contents

[edit] Company history

Gearbox founded by five members of the content team from defunct developer Rebel Boat Rocker: Randy Pitchford, Brian Martel, Stephen Bahl, Landon Montgomery, and Rob Heironimus. Before Rebel Boat Rocker, Pitchford and Martel previously worked together at 3D Realms, and Montgomery previously worked at Bethesda Softworks.

Following the collapse of Rebel Boat Rocker (whose project Prax War 2018 involved a new company developing a new intellectual property (IP) with a new engine/tool set in a new publisher relationship) the founders of Gearbox chose a different strategy - one of measured growth and decisive gathering of experienced personnel while building the company's resources, relationships, and reputation with each successive project. They started with developing expansions to the huge PC hit Half-Life - which, contrary to Prax War, involved working with an existing, already-successful IP, built upon an existing engine and tool set, working with an existing relationship between Valve Software and Sierra/Vivendi. Porting Half-Life to console platforms (each with new game content) followed, building the company's experience in console game-making, in addition to enhancing and building upon the successful Counter-Strike branch of the Half-Life franchise. Prior to Half-Life 2, Gearbox had developed or helped develop every Half-Life expansion game or port, including Opposing Force, Blue Shift, Counter-Strike, Condition Zero, Half-Life for the Sony PlayStation 2 (Half-Life Decay), and Half-Life for the Sega Dreamcast. Branching out to other publishers, Gearbox pursued additional port work, each game being released with additional content, but this time from console to PC. These projects including Gearbox's first non-FPS Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, and the mega-hit Halo: Combat Evolved, forging new publisher relationships with Activision and Microsoft Game Studios respectively. Additional new development, in the form of a PC game in the James Bond franchise (Nightfire) for EA, also occurred during the company's initial 5-year period.

2007 brought announcements of new projects based on licensed film IPs, including the crime drama Heat[1] and the sci-fi classic Aliens.[2] In the September 2007 issue of Game Informer, a new game franchise was revealed, the sci-fi shooter/vehicle combat game Borderlands[3], after which Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford mentioned in an online interview that development on the Heat game had not yet begun, as the planned development partner for the project had gone under.[4] This was followed by an announcement by Sega that Gearbox would be helming a new version of rhythm game Samba de Amigo for the Wii, a departure from their signature FPS titles.[5]

In 2008, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford announced that the company was working on yet another major unannounced title, hinting that is was "huge". [6]

[edit] Game Series

[edit] Half-Life Series

Main article: Half-Life (series)

Gearbox has generated two Half-Life games: Half-Life: Opposing Force and Half-Life: Blue Shift.

Look main articles for more.

[edit] Brothers in Arms Series

Main articles: Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30, Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood, and Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway

During their fourth year (2003), Gearbox began secretly working on their first internally-driven and independently-owned game: Brothers In Arms: Road to Hill 30. Developed for both PC and the new Microsoft Xbox console, and built with the Unreal 2 engine, this game was released in March 2005. The sequel, Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood, followed seven months later. The series was published by Ubisoft, who supported both games with PlayStation 2 versions, and later worked with Gearbox to develop Brothers in Arms games for portable systems (mobile phones, PlayStation Portable and Nintendo DS) and the Wii home console.

In 2005, Gearbox licensed the Unreal 3 engine from Epic Games,[7] to replace the Unreal 2 engine technology used in previous games,[7] and grew its internal development teams to handle the demands of next-generation technology and content. Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway was the first new title to be announced,[8] continuing the company's flagship franchise.

[edit] Technology

Gearbox has developed with and expanded on a number of existing game engines for various projects, including Goldsrc, Renderware, Bungie's Halo, Unreal 2 and Unreal 3. They have completed games on a variety of game platforms, including Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, Xbox, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS, Wii and Microsoft Windows.

In 2006, Gearbox Software partnered with Dell and Intel to provide development computer systems and technology.[9]

In June 2007, Gearbox Software purchased a Moven motion capture system,[10] becoming one of the few independent developers with an in-house motion capture studio.

[edit] Games developed

Game Compilations featuring Gearbox Software games:

[edit] Games currently in development

 This article or section contains information about an unreleased video game.
The content may change substantially as more information becomes available. Please do not add speculation to this article, and remember to cite a published source for details.

As of November 2007, the following games are in development at (or under guidance by) Gearbox Software:

[edit] References

  1. ^ Gearbox turning up Heat on next-gen consoles. Retrieved on 2007-10-31.
  2. ^ a b SEGA and Twentieth Century Fox Licensing & Merchandising to bring Alien franchise to next-gen systems. Retrieved on 2006-12-17.
  3. ^ 2K Games To Publish Gearbox's Borderlands. Retrieved on 2007-10-31.
  4. ^ a b What Happened To Gearbox Software's Heat?. Retrieved on 2007-08-17.
  5. ^ a b Samba De Amigo Announcement. Retrieved on 2007-09-15.
  6. ^ a b Gearbox Hints At Something Huge. Retrieved on 2008-04-08.
  7. ^ a b Gearbox Software, LLC. (2005-09-23). "Gearbox Software licenses Unreal Engine 3". Press release. Retrieved on 2007-11-07.
  8. ^ Gearbox Software, LLC. (2006-04-12). "Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway Announced". Press release. Retrieved on 2007-11-07.
  9. ^ Dell Case Study: Gearbox Software: Go Further. Dell, Inc.. Retrieved on 2007-10-31.
  10. ^ Xsens Technologies B.V. (2007-06-28). "Big Leap Forward for Animation Production at Gearbox Software". Press release. Retrieved on 2007-10-27.

[edit] External links