| Type | Video game developer |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video game industry |
| Founded | March 2000 (as Just Add Monsters) |
| Headquarters | Cambridge, England, UK |
| Key people | Mike Ball (chief technology) Nina Kristensen (chief development) Tameem Antoniades (chief design) Jez San |
| Products | Heavenly Sword Kung Fu Chaos Enslaved: Odyssey to the West |
| Parent | Independent |
| Website | http://www.ninjatheory.com |
Ninja Theory, Ltd. is a Independent video game developer based in Cambridge, England. Originally founded as Just Add Monsters in March 2000, the company was purchased by former Argonaut Games CEO Jez San in November 2004.[1] The team developed its first game, Kung Fu Chaos, in 2003 exclusively for the Xbox, which was published by Microsoft Game Studios.
Ninja Theory's second game, Heavenly Sword for the Sony PlayStation 3 was released in September 2007 and features a "free style" combat action system.[2] The developer was nominated for five Develop Industry Excellence Awards for the game including best new IP, visual arts, audio accomplishment, technical innovation, and best independent developer.[3]
In June 2008, the company licensed NaturalMotion's morpheme animation system.[4] Ninja Theory's third game, titled Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, was released for both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and was published by Namco Bandai Games. Previously, Enslaved was believed to be a sequel to Heavenly Sword until Ninja Theory confirmed otherwise; stating that such a game is "extremely unlikely".[5]
At the Capcom Tokyo Games Show conference on September 15, 2010, it was announced that Ninja Theory are currently developing a prequel of the Devil May Cry franchise, simply called DmC.[6]
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In May 2005, Ninja Theory were on the verge of becoming defunct due to the collapse of the gaming studio Argonaut Games, however soon after the announcement was made, the BBC reported that Sony Computer Entertainment had signed them up to make an exclusive video game for the upcoming PlayStation 3.[7]
The teased Heavenly Sword 2 has been cancelled[8] for the time being. In June 2010, Ninja Theory expressed their interest in making another title and commented that they would have made a sequel had Heavenly Sword performed better in sales.[9]
Before the multi-platform release of Enslaved: Odyssey to the West; there were rumors claiming that the quality of the PS3 version was poor compared to the Xbox 360 version, although Ninja Theory recently addressed these rumors by stating, "I can re-assure you that through our development process neither format is favoured. In fact, all formats are developed simultaneously so it wouldn’t be possible for one format to be cared for more than the other."[10] Despite this statement, the game was revealed to have overall inferior performance on the PS3 after release, with EuroGamer's Digital Foundry team recommending "if you own both consoles and have the choice of which version to buy, the Xbox 360 release is the one to get". [11]