Fullbright (company)
Formerly | The Fullbright Company (2012–2014) |
---|---|
Company type | Private |
Industry | Video games |
Founded | March 2012 |
Founder |
|
Headquarters | , US |
Products | |
Number of employees | 1 (2023) |
Website | fullbrig |
Fullbright (formerly The Fullbright Company) is an American
History
Minerva's Den and founding
The Fullbright Company was formed by Steve Gaynor, Johnnemann Nordhagen, and Karla Zimonja in March 2012.[1] Kate Craig, an environment artist, joined the company full-time in August 2012.[1] They had previously worked together at other video game developers but "were attracted to the artistic liberty and self-management of a small game studio", with the freedoms of working without rigid schedules and relationships.[2] The three founders lived and worked together in a northeast Portland, Oregon, house known as the Fullbright House. Craig worked remotely from Vancouver.[2] Craig likened the group to a band due to the closeness partially necessitated by lack of money, such as in sharing flights and lodging.[2]
Steve Gaynor had attended
Gone Home
The Fullbright Company partnered with indie publisher Midnight City to produce a
Chris Plante of Polygon cited Fullbright as an example of "smaller, independently owned studios" whose games show signs of social progress in the video game medium.[3]
Tacoma
Fullbright announced their next game, Tacoma, at The Game Awards 2014. The brief trailer featured a radio dialogue between a man and a woman, set in the Lunar Transfer Station Tacoma 200,000 miles from Earth. Polygon noted that its aesthetic was similar to Rapture, the underwater city of BioShock. Tacoma was released on August 2, 2017 on PC and Xbox One.[9]
Open Roads and issues with Gaynor's behaviour
The company announced Open Roads at The Game Awards 2020.[10] The game had been in development since at least 2019, when Fullbright had a staff of around twenty people.[11] In August 2021, Polygon reported that about fifteen employees, including ten women, had left the studio over the course of Open Roads' development due to Gaynor's behavior, particularly towards female employees, which included micromanagement, belittling treatment, and other toxic behaviors. Other former employees said that they did not witness any sexual harassment. By 2021, only six employees remained and Open Roads was delayed indefinitely. Gaynor stepped down as the creative lead in March 2021. Having been informed beforehand of the move, planned Open Roads publisher Annapurna Interactive remained supportive of the Fullbright staff, while Gaynor apologized for his mistreatment of employees, and said that stepping back from development "has given me space and perspective to see how my role needs to change and how I need to learn and improve as part of a team, including working with an expert management consultant, and rethinking my relationship to the work at Fullbright."[11] In May 2023, PC Gamer reported that all Fullbright staff except Gaynor had moved away from Fullbright and were developing Open Roads under a different development label. Gaynor remained the sole developer at Fullbright, working on a different title.[12]
See also
References
- ^ a b c "About The Fullbright Company". The Fullbright Company. Archived from the original on 2018-11-28. Retrieved 2019-11-20.
- ^ a b c d Mahardy, Mike (August 13, 2013). "Meet Me in Portland: The Fullbright Company's Journey Home". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on December 8, 2014. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
- ^ a b c d Tach, Dave (March 11, 2014). "Why Double Fine and Fullbright teamed up with Midnight City". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on April 7, 2014. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
- ^ Savage, Phil (March 12, 2014). "Papers, Please and Gone Home take BAFTA Awards, Houser brothers make rare appearance for Rockstar's". PC Gamer. Future Publishing. Archived from the original on December 10, 2014. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
- Game Revolution. Archivedfrom the original on December 11, 2014. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
- ^ Hall, Charlie (December 5, 2014). "Tacoma is the next game from Gone Home developer Fullbright". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on December 8, 2014. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
- ^ Pitcher, Jenna (June 19, 2014). "Gone Home developer establishes new studio to explore the outer edges of games". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on December 7, 2014. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
- ^ McElroy, Griffin (August 4, 2014). "Gone Home developer rebrands and expands". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on December 8, 2014. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
- ^ Elliott, James (2017-07-30). "Video game releases for August 2017". Polygon. Archived from the original on 2023-09-03. Retrieved 2020-06-02.
- ^ "Annapurna Interactive and Fullbright announce Open Roads, a mother-daughter road trip game". December 11, 2020. Archived from the original on September 3, 2023. Retrieved December 11, 2020.
- ^ a b Carpenter, Nicole (August 4, 2021). "How the founder's toxic culture tore apart Fullbright, the studio behind Gone Home". Polygon. Archived from the original on September 3, 2023. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
- ^ Lane, Rick (May 12, 2023). "Two years after 'toxic' studio management scandal, Steve Gaynor is working as a solo developer under the Fullbright name". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on September 3, 2023. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
External links
- Media related to Fullbright at Wikimedia Commons
- Official website