Foundation 9 Entertainment

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Foundation 9 Entertainment is an entertainment products developer. The company develops properties for multiple media, including video games for all platforms, comic books, film and television series. The company claims to be the largest independent game developer in the world. Foundation 9 has 750 employees working in its studios in Emeryville, California, Vancouver, Canada, Boston, Massachusetts, Los Angeles, California, Seattle, Washington, Austin, Texas, Newport Beach, California, Sheffield, UK and Eugene, Oregon.

The company’s studios have developed more than 400 titles for all age groups and platforms, including more than 30 in 2006 alone.^{[citation needed]}

Foundation 9 has reached its present size through a number of strategic acquisitions. It owns 8 core brands and 8 separate studio locations, as well as a minority stake in a production management company. Its acquisitions include Amaze Entertainment (Seattle, Austin), The Collective (Newport Beach), Shiny Entertainment (Newport Beach), Backbone (Emeryville, Vancouver), Pipeworks (Eugene), ImaginEngine (Boston), Digital Eclipse (Emeryville, Vancouver), Circle of Confusion (Los Angeles), and Sumo Digital (United Kingdom). Digital Eclipse is actually a brand, not a studio, and all Digital Eclipse games are developed at the Backbone Studios. Digital Eclipse was originally one of the constituent companies that came together to form Backbone, the progenitor of Foundation 9. For the most part, Foundation 9 allows each acquired entity to continue to operate their separate studios. The company was previously helmed by CEO Jon Goldman, who came from Backbone (and was founder of ImaginEngine) and COO David Mann who served in the COO role and was a co-founder of Amaze.

As of March 17, 2008, James North-Hearn assumed the CEO position.

Foundation 9 Entertainment is a premier developer of interactive entertainment products and properties, from licensed titles to original IP’s. The company is one of the largest independent game developers in the world.

[edit] History

With divisions founded as early as 1992, Foundation 9 Entertainment has grown through a number of strategic mergers and acquisitions. More than 800 employees work in its studios in Emeryville, Newport Beach, Kirkland, Austin, Vancouver, Eugene, Boston, the UK and India.

Through its studios and core brands, Amaze Entertainment, Backbone Entertainment, The Collective, Shiny Entertainment, Sumo Digital, Pipeworks, ImaginEngine, and Digital Eclipse, Foundation 9 Entertainment has worked with the largest names in game publishing, including Electronic Arts, Activision, Vivendi-Universal, and Take-Two Interactive.

On October 2, 2006, Foundation 9 acquired Shiny Entertainment. Shiny and The Collective studios will merge into a larger entity. Both studios have already relocated to F9E's new 60,000 square foot corporate headquarters in Irvine, California.

On November 14, 2006, Amaze Entertainment was also acquired.^[1]

On August 17, 2007 Sumo Digital was acquired.^[2]