Ruffian Games

Ruffian Games
Industry Video game industry
Founded December 2008
Headquarters Dundee, United Kingdom, UK [1]
Key people Gaz Liddon (studio head)
Billy Thomson (creative director)
Gareth Noyce (development director) [2]
Products Video games
Website [1]

Ruffian Games is a British video game developer founded in 2008[3]. The developer was formed by two members, Billy Thomson and Gaz Liddon, of the video game developer Realtime Worlds. Ruffian Games originally consisted of members from Realtime Worlds and Xen Studios, among others.[3] They have made Crackdown 2, the sequel to the 2007 video game, Crackdown.

History

Ruffian Games was officially formed in December 2008. The studio was founded by Billy Thomson (now Creative Director) and Gaz Liddon (now Studio Head)[4]. The team consisted of developers who "have worked on games like Crackdown, Fable II and Project Gotham Racing"[5]. Before the "official" announcement, however, rumors circulated that a studio was in development of the sequel to the Realtime Worlds game, Crackdown. As early as December 2008, rumors emerged that Ruffian Games was formed to create a sequel to Crackdown[6]. In light of these rumors, Realtime Worlds issued a statement claiming that they "'continue to have ongoing discussions' with Microsoft about a Crackdown sequel, although no offer has been made". The rumors, however, ousted Ruffian Games as a Microsoft-funded developer.[7]

After the announcement, not much news circulated regarding the project the developer was currently working on. The developer was keeping its current project under wraps: "Now we're in full production, we're itching to share the fantastic work these guys have been producing" stated Liddon[8]. On May 22, 2009, it was announced that the developer had added 15 new members to its team[9].

At Microsoft's 2009 E3 conference, Ruffian Games announced their project to be Crackdown 2 which was released July 6, 2010 in North America.[10]

Ruffian Games is made up of a large amount of former Realtime Worlds employees who moved to this studio after the failure of APB (All Points Bulletin), the main cause of Realtime Worlds' collapse.

References

  1. ^ Luke Plunkett (2009-01-20). "Say Hello To Ruffian Games". Kotaku.com. http://kotaku.com/5135157/. Retrieved 2011-09-07. 
  2. ^ "Gareth Noyce". LinkedIn. http://www.linkedin.com/in/garethnoyce. Retrieved 2011-09-07. 
  3. ^ a b "Ruffian Games formed". News.bigdownload.com. 2009-01-20. http://news.bigdownload.com/2009/01/20/ruffian-games-formed?icid=sphere_blogsmith_inpage_joystiq. Retrieved 2011-09-07. 
  4. ^ Rob Crossley (2009-01-20). "Ruffian Games Officially Announced - Edge Magazine". Next-gen.biz. http://www.next-gen.biz/news/ruffian-games-officially-announced. Retrieved 2011-09-07. 
  5. ^ Luke Plunkett (2009-01-20). "Say Hello To Ruffian Games". Kotaku.com. http://kotaku.com/5135157/. Retrieved 2011-09-07. 
  6. ^ Wong, Steven. "Joystiq". Gamedaily.com. http://www.gamedaily.com/games/crackdown/xbox-360/game-news/crackdown-2-under-development-at-ruffian-games-says-report/4741/22087/. Retrieved 2011-09-07. 
  7. ^ Pereira, Chris (2008-12-19). "Crackdown 2 Reportedly in Development at Newly-Formed Studio: News from". 1UP.com. http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3171982. Retrieved 2011-09-07. 
  8. ^ McElroy, Griffin (2009-05-22). "Ruffian Games expands team by 15, 'itching' to reveal first project". Joystiq. http://www.joystiq.com/2009/05/22/ruffian-games-expands-team-by-15-itching-to-reveal-first-proj/. Retrieved 2011-09-07. 
  9. ^ "Ruffian games expands by 15, still won’t say what they’re working on «". Digitalbattle.com. 2009-05-22. http://www.digitalbattle.com/2009/05/22/ruffian-games-expands-by-15-still-wont-say-what-theyre-working-on/. Retrieved 2011-09-07. 
  10. ^ "E3 2009: Crackdown 2 Announced; 2010 Release Date". PerezStart. 2010-03-15. http://www.perezstart.com/x360/e3-2009-crackdown-2-announced-2010-release-date/5890/. Retrieved 2011-09-07.