Red Storm Entertainment
 | |
| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Video game industry |
| Founded | May 9, 1996 |
| Founders |
|
| Headquarters | Morrisville, North Carolina, U.S. |
Key people | Steve Reid (managing director) |
Number of employees | 130 (2018) |
| Parent | Ubisoft (2000–present) |
| Website |
redstorm |
Red Storm Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and subsidiary of Ubisoft based in Morrisville, North Carolina. Founded in May 1996 by novelist Tom Clancy, Royal Navy captain Doug Littlejohns and creative director Steve Reid, the company specializes in the development of games in the Tom Clancy's franchise. Red Storm Entertainment was acquired by Ubisoft in August 2000.
History
Tom Clancy and Doug Littlejohns founded Red Storm Entertainment in 1996. The company publicly launched near the end of the year.[1] Originally part of Virtus Corporation, a maker of 3D animation tools,[2] the company released its first game – Tom Clancy's Politika, the first in the Power Plays series – in 1997. Based in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina, Red Storm quickly gained a reputation with games like Dominant Species, one of the first 3D realtime strategy games. However, it was with Rainbow Six (1998) that the company firmly established itself commercially. In contrast to the run-and-gun first person shooters (FPS) that had gone before, Rainbow Six was the first true tactical FPS, a game that rewarded patience and planning as well as good aim and a keen eye. Developed alongside the novel of the same name, Rainbow Six introduced terms like "one shot, one kill" and "tango down" into the gamer lexicon. Its ground-breaking multiplayer action, including a new form of cooperative gameplay, set the standard for tactical multiplayer.
Red Storm followed on the success of Rainbow Six with a mission pack, Eagle Watch, and then in 2000 with a sequel, Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear. The company also expanded into turn-based strategy (ruthless.com and Shadow Watch) and military RTS (Force 21). In August 2000, Ubisoft purchased the studio. At the time of the sale, Red Storm was already producing Ghost Recon.
Released in 2001, Ghost Recon won multiple "Game of the Year" awards. The Xbox version also marked the first time RSE ventured into in-house console development, and was the first Xbox Live title to truly take advantage of the possibilities of console multiplayer. Follow-up add-ons like Island Thunder continued to expand the world of the Ghosts, while Red Storm itself grew and moved offices to a new location in Morrisville, North Carolina. By 2003, Ubisoft was ready to consolidate its North Carolina operations. Ubisoft's other area studio, Sinister Games in downtown Raleigh, was integrated into Red Storm, with the central base of operations remaining at the Morrisville location.
In 2004, Red Storm released Ghost Recon 2, the follow-up to the original game, designed by now Lead Designer Christian Allen. Delivered on Xbox, it signaled the company's transition to primarily console development. It produced an add-on, Summit Strike, in 2005, which moved the action to Kazakhstan, as well as downloadable content, something which would become a hallmark of the franchise. Red Storm has also developed the multiplayer aspects of both iterations of the Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter series. It won the BAFTA's Game of the Year and Best Technical Achievement awards in 2006.
More recently, Red Storm continued development on Tom Clancy games such as Ghost Recon: Future Soldier (2012) and The Division (2016), while co-operating with Ubisoft Montreal on the Far Cry franchise.
In 2016, Red Storm released their first virtual reality game, Werewolves Within, followed by a May 2017 release of another, Star Trek: Bridge Crew.
Games developed
References
- ↑ "In the Studio". Next Generation. No. 26. Imagine Media. February 1997. p. 34.
- ↑ "News Bits". GamePro. No. 101. IDG. February 1997. p. 27.