Climax Studios

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the Japanese video game developer, see Climax Entertainment.

Climax Studios
Keywords Studios (2021–present)
Websiteclimaxstudios.com

Climax Studios is a British video game developer based in Portsmouth that is best known for their work on the 2004 action role-playing game Sudeki and the 2007 and 2009 survival horror video games Silent Hill: Origins and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories from the Silent Hill franchise.

History

Climax was founded by Karl Jeffery on 3 February 1988.[1] It was originally known as Images Software Ltd., and its initial focus was on developing and porting games for the generation of home computers, consoles and handhelds.[2]

In October 1998, Climax announced the establishment of Climax PC Studio, a sub-studio focused on

chairman.[11]

The flagship Climax Fareham studio moved to

Venice, California was opened in October 2003.[13] In November 2004, Climax consolidated its London and Solent studios under the name "Climax Action" and rebranded the Brighton and Nottingham studios as "Climax Racing" and "Climax Online", respectively.[14]

In 2006 Konami announced that Climax Action was working on the next entry in the popular Silent Hill franchise of horror games after the original team behind the series, Konami's internal development team Team Silent, had been disbanded. It was titled Silent Hill: Origins and exclusively announced for the PlayStation Portable. In October 2007 the game was released to positive reviews.[15] In 2008 a PlayStation 2 version of the game followed.

Climax's Kingston studio was closed in February 2008, leaving the Portsmouth headquarters as the only remaining studio.[16]

In 2009 it was announced that Climax was working on another Silent Hill game for Nintendo's Wii console titled Shattered Memories.[17] The game was announced as a remake of the original Silent Hill game, although the term "re-imagining" was used to emphasise that it was going to provide a completely new experience. Later versions for the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable were also announced.

In recent years Climax has developed and published a number of VR titles, including Lola and The Giant (which was featured at Google's I/O'17 event), Bandit Six, Gun Sight, DCL: The Game[18][19] and Dirt Rally 2.0 which was co-developed with Codemasters.[20]

In 2007, following a rumour that had been going around the industry about a possible sale of the company, Jeffery confirmed that he had owned 100% of the studio's shares, denying any of the rumours about an acquisition.[21] The studio would then later be acquired by Keywords Studios in April 2021 for £47 million.[22]

Former development subsidiaries

Games developed

Main article: List of Climax games

References

  1. ^ "Climax Celebrates 15th Birthday With Plans To Expand". Climax. 3 February 2003. Archived from the original on 28 September 2004.
  2. ^ "Images Software". New Computer Express. 8 October 1991.
  3. ^ "Profile". Climax. Archived from the original on 8 May 1999.
  4. ^ "Services". Climax. Archived from the original on 8 May 1999.
  5. ^ "Tony Beckwith & Greg Michael to join Climax Group". Climax. 7 November 1999. Archived from the original on 18 August 2003.
  6. Gamasutra. Archived
    from the original on 10 April 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  7. ^ a b "The Climax Group's acquisition of Anthill Studios". Climax. 12 June 2000. Archived from the original on 18 August 2003.
  8. ^ "Climax Brighton Moves to New High-Tec Studio". Climax. 22 August 2000. Archived from the original on 18 August 2003.
  9. ^ "Climax Promises life after Charybdis". Climax. 24 April 2001. Archived from the original on 19 August 2003.
  10. ^ Bramwell, Tom (12 June 2001). "Climax Group swallows Syrox whole". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 10 April 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  11. Gamasutra. 17 July 2001. Archived
    from the original on 10 April 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  12. ^ "Climax To Open New Production Facility". Climax. 1 July 2002. Archived from the original on 19 August 2003.
  13. Gamasutra. Archived
    from the original on 10 April 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  14. GamesIndustry.biz. Archived
    from the original on 16 February 2021. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  15. ^ "Silent Hill: Origins for PSP Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 25 January 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  16. ^ MCV Staff (1 February 2008). "Climax Kingston closed". MCV/Develop. Archived from the original on 23 September 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  17. ^ Fahey, Mike (6 April 2009). "Silent Hill: Shattered Memories Re-Does Wii, PS2, And PSP". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 20 October 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  18. ^ Santa Maria, Alex (28 August 2019). "Why THQ Nordic was the surprise star of Gamescom 2019". GameRevolution. Archived from the original on 28 September 2020. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
  19. Push Square. Archived
    from the original on 5 September 2019. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
  20. ^ Price, Dan. "DIRT RALLY 2.0". Climax Studios. Archived from the original on 29 July 2020. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  21. GamesIndustry.biz. Archived
    from the original on 3 October 2012. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  22. GamesIndustry.biz. Archived
    from the original on 22 April 2021. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  23. MCV. Archived from the original
    on 6 December 2007. Retrieved 1 July 2009.

External links
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