Psyonix

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Psyonix LLC
Epic Games (2019–present)
Websitepsyonix.com

Psyonix LLC is an American video game developer based in San Diego. It was founded in 2000 by Dave Hagewood with the team of his Internet-focused company WebSite Machines. After canceling its first two projects, Psyonix created VehicleMOD, a mod that adds vehicles to Unreal Tournament 2003. The game's developer, Epic Games, subsequently hired the studio to recreate this gameplay for a game mode in Unreal Tournament 2004. Psyonix subsisted off contract work and released its first original game, Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars, in 2008. The game was not as successful as anticipated but Hagewood held on to the game's concept and had a small team prototype a sequel while the rest of the company worked on further contract projects. This sequel was released as Rocket League in 2015 and became a commercial success. Epic Games acquired the studio in May 2019.

History

Foundation and VehicleMOD (2000–2003)

Psyonix was founded by Dave Hagewood, a native of

web hosting company, and later WebSite Machines, which developed multimedia and Internet software.[2][3] Hagewood heavily invested in the Internet industry and operated his companies out of Satellite Beach, Florida, but faced great competition. In his spare time, he occasionally modded video games, often with vehicles, but was under the impression that making games for a living was "an impossible dream".[4] Still, in 2000, as the WebSite Machines team sought to transition to video game development, Hagewood established Psyonix with them.[3][5] The company name was derived from his "fascination with the concept of intelligence and the innate powers of the human mind".[6]

Psyonix's first project was Proteus, a vehicular combat game. Unhappy with the game engine chosen for the undertaking, it was quickly abandoned for the company to shift to Unreal Engine. Its first Unreal Engine game was Vampire Hunter: The Dark Prophecy, an action game with first-person exploration and third-person melee. The game was announced in 2002 but soon became too large in scope for its intended budget. After the studio completed a demo and pitched it to potential publishers, it briefly experimented with adding vehicles to the 2002 game Unreal Tournament 2003, something Hagewood felt it had been lacking. After a few weeks of development, the team felt the project had potential and shelved Vampire Hunter in its favor.[5]

In December 2002, after several months of work,

multiplayer support. Impressed with this demo, Epic Games sought further talks but wanted to see how quickly the project could progress. Psyonix worked through three weeks of crunch and enlisted independent modders to create three maps for VehicleMOD. Hagewood showcased the newer version at Epic Games' offices in North Carolina, and the company immediately signed Psyonix to develop this mod as a game mode for Unreal Tournament 2004, which became known as Onslaught.[5] Hagewood believed that working with Epic Games remotely from Florida would impact the mode's quality, so he relocated Psyonix to Raleigh, North Carolina, later in 2003.[4][5] Rein paid for the moving expenses.[5] Around the same time, Hagewood abandoned his work in web hosting.[4]

Contract work and first original games (2003–2013)

In Raleigh, Psyonix consisted largely of Hagewood and interns hired from nearby universities.

soccer ball into a level, which the team enjoyed so much that they decided to design the game around that instead. Hagewood informed Microsoft about the change in direction, and the two companies parted ways. The game was ultimately released in 2008 for the PlayStation 3 as Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars.[4] The team chose an unusually long name hoping that it would attract attention.[7] In the meantime, SouthPeak Games had contracted Psyonix to develop Monster Madness: Grave Danger, an updated port of Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia, which was released for the PlayStation 3 in the same year.[8]

While Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars

ARC Squadron: Redux, came out for iOS and Android in October 2013.[11]

Rocket League and acquisition by Epic Games (2013–present)

Also in 2013, the sequel to Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars entered production. With a budget of under US$2 million, Psyonix developed

Windows and the PlayStation 4.[12] It increased Psyonix's profits 100-fold and brought in $110 million within one year. Psyonix quickly expanded to 70 people by December 2016 and consequently moved to a larger office in the 1 Columbia Place tower, spanning 40,000 square feet (3,700 m2) across two floors. Hagewood sought to grow the tech industry in San Diego, such as through his investment in Zesty.io.[7] The expanded team continued to support Rocket League through additional content, and Psyonix partnered with Twitch, a video game livestreaming service, to establish the Rocket League Championship Series as the game's official esports tournament.[2] In April 2018, the studio began prototyping a mobile Rocket League spin-off ultimately named Rocket League Sideswipe.[13]

On May 1, 2019, Epic Games announced its acquisition of Psyonix to undisclosed terms. At the time, the studio had 132 employees and planned to continue supporting Rocket League.[14][15] From his proceeds of the sale, Hagewood bought the Benetti Galaxy, a 56-metre (184 ft) superyacht, and intended to invest in space tourism.[1] Epic Games published Rocket League Sideswipe for Android and iOS in November 2021 and Psyonix's Rocket Racing game mode for Fortnite in December 2023.[16][17]

Games developed

Year Title Platform(s) Publisher(s) Notes Ref.
2008 Monster Madness: Grave Danger PlayStation 3 SouthPeak Games Updated port of Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia [8]
Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars PlayStation 3 Psyonix [4]
2009 Whizzle
Windows
Unreal Development Kit
tech demo 		[6]
2012 ARC Squadron iOS [10]
2013
ARC Squadron: Redux
 		Android, iOS Updated version of ARC Squadron [11]
2015 Rocket League Linux, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One Deprecated for macOS and Linux in March 2020 [12][18]
2021 Rocket League Sideswipe Android, iOS Epic Games [16]
2023 Rocket Racing Android, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4,
Xbox Series X/S
 Part of Fortnite [17]

Additional work

Year Title Lead developer(s) Ref.
2004 Unreal Tournament 2004 Epic Games [6]
2006 Gears of War
2007
Unreal Tournament III
2011 Bulletstorm People Can Fly, Epic Games
Homefront Kaos Studios
2012 Mass Effect 3 BioWare
XCOM: Enemy Unknown Firaxis Games

Canceled

References

  1. ^
    Boat International. Archived
    from the original on October 30, 2023. Retrieved October 31, 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d e Hilliard, Kyle (May 2016). "Supersonic Acrobatic Unreal Expert". Game Informer. No. 277. pp. 32–33.
  3. ^ a b "About Us". Psyonix. 2001. Archived from the original on October 24, 2001.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Martens, Todd (March 10, 2016). "The Player: How 'Rocket League' combined cars with soccer to create video game magic". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 30, 2023. Retrieved October 31, 2023.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g hal (March 24, 2004). "BU Interviews: Psyonix". BeyondUnreal. Archived from the original on November 15, 2016. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Briers, Michael (February 5, 2015). "Indie Games Showcase: Psyonix". PlayStation LifeStyle. Archived from the original on October 30, 2023. Retrieved October 31, 2023.
  7. ^ a b Meiling, Brittany (December 7, 2016). "Dominating A Field of Play". San Diego Business Journal. Archived from the original on October 30, 2023. Retrieved October 31, 2023.
  8. ^ a b Dobson, Jason (February 6, 2008). "SouthPeak tries again with Monster Madness: Grave Danger". Engadget. Archived from the original on November 24, 2020. Retrieved October 31, 2023.
  9. Gamasutra
    .
  10. ^ a b Gilmour, James (October 31, 2012). "Space shooter Arc Squadron to barrel roll onto the App Store tomorrow". Pocket Gamer. Archived from the original on February 3, 2023. Retrieved October 31, 2023.
  11. ^ a b Sliwinski, Alexander (October 11, 2013). "Arc Squadron: Redux free on iOS, Android starting next week". Engadget. Archived from the original on October 31, 2023. Retrieved October 31, 2023.
  12. ^ a b Wawro, Alex (July 21, 2015). "Why some old designs are worth revisiting: A Rocket League story". Game Developer. Archived from the original on May 11, 2019. Retrieved October 31, 2023.
  13. Pocket Gamer.biz. Archived
    from the original on January 31, 2023. Retrieved October 31, 2023.
  14. ^ Meiling, Brittany (May 1, 2019). "San Diego's popular video game maker Psyonix acquired by 'Fortnite' creator Epic Games". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Archived from the original on October 30, 2023. Retrieved October 31, 2023.
  15. ^ Statt, Nick (May 1, 2019). "Epic buys Rocket League developer Psyonix, strongly hints it will stop selling the game on Steam". The Verge. Archived from the original on May 1, 2019. Retrieved May 1, 2019.
  16. ^
    Pocket Gamer.biz. Archived
    from the original on March 12, 2023. Retrieved October 31, 2023.
  17. ^ a b Romano, Sal (December 2, 2023). "Fortnite live service games LEGO Fortnite, Rocket Racing, and Fortnite Festival announced". Gematsu. Archived from the original on December 2, 2023. Retrieved December 2, 2023.
  18. ^ Peters, Jay (January 23, 2020). "Rocket League is killing online multiplayer on macOS and Linux". The Verge. Archived from the original on April 19, 2022. Retrieved April 19, 2022.

External links

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