Rocksteady Studios

Rocksteady Studios Limited
Subsidiary
Industry Video game industry
Founded 8 November 2004 (2004-11-08)
Founders
  • Sefton Brian Hill
  • James Simon William "Jamie" Walker
Headquarters Kentish Town, London, England
Key people
Products
Owner Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment[1]
Number of employees
 Increase 176[2] (2018)
Website rocksteadyltd.com

Rocksteady Studios Limited is a British video game developer based in Kentish Town, London. Founded in November 2004, they are best known for their work in the Batman: Arkham series. The company is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.

History

Rocksteady was founded on 8 November 2004, by Sefton Hill and Jamie Walker.[3][4] The team hired many employees from Argonaut Games, a London-based studio which had closed in October 2004.[5]

Rocksteady's first release was the 2006 first-person shooter Urban Chaos: Riot Response, developed using the Havok engine and published by Eidos Interactive for PlayStation 2 and Xbox. After Eidos obtained the rights to make a Batman game in spring 2007, they approached Rocksteady who presented their take to the Batman license, and by May 2007, they had begun developing the concept of Batman: Arkham Asylum, with full production beginning in September 2007.[6][7] The game was released in August 2009 to critical acclaim and huge commercial success and the studio was then acquired by Time Warner in February 2010, although Square Enix Europe (formerly Eidos Interactive) still holds 25.1 percent share of Rocksteady.[8][9]

Rocksteady Studios have thus became one of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment in-house studios, renowned for their acclaimed games in the Batman: Arkham franchise, as Arkham Asylum was followed by Batman: Arkham City in 2011, and Batman: Arkham Knight in 2015. Although a prequel Arkham game was also developed (Batman: Arkham Origins), Rocksteady did not act as developer for the game; instead, development was handled by WB Games Montréal.

In December 2016, Sefton Hill confirmed through his official Reddit account that a new project is currently in development at Rocksteady Studios.[10]

Rocksteady is a wholly owned studio of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros., after previously being partially owned by Square Enix.

Games developed and in development

YearTitlePlatform(s)
2006 Urban Chaos: Riot Response PlayStation 2, Xbox
2009 Batman: Arkham Asylum PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, macOS
2011 Batman: Arkham City PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, macOS, Wii U
2015 Batman: Arkham Knight PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows
2016 Batman: Arkham VR PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows
TBA TBA TBA

References

  1. ↑ https://www.warnerbros.com/studio/divisions/home-entertainment/warner-bros-interactive-entertainment
  2. ↑ "Rocksteady - Welcome to Rocksteady Studios". rocksteadyltd.com.
  3. ↑ https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/news170105rollcall
  4. ↑ Prell, Sam (November 22, 2014). "Three years later, Calendar Man reveals Arkham City easter egg". GamesRadar. Retrieved July 12, 2016.
  5. ↑ Fahey, Rob (2005-01-17). "SCi funds new development studio". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 2008-07-22.
  6. ↑ Snider, Mike (August 24, 2009). "The rest of the story: 'Batman: Arkham Asylum'". USA Today. Gannett Company. Archived from the original on April 5, 2013. Retrieved April 5, 2013.
  7. ↑ Graft, Kris (October 19, 2009). "Rocksteady's Sefton Hill Unmasks Batman: Arkham Asylum". Gamasutra. Think Services. Archived from the original on April 2, 2013. Retrieved March 25, 2013.
  8. ↑ Plunkett, Luke (2010-02-23). "Warner Buys Batman: Arkham Asylum Devs". Kotaku. Retrieved 2012-09-04.
  9. ↑ "Warner acquires majority stake in Rocksteady Studios". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 2018-04-28.
  10. ↑ "I'm Sefton Hill, Creative Director at Rocksteady Studios, the creators of the Batman: Arkham series of video games. Ask me almost anything! • r/IAmA". reddit.
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