Digital Chocolate
Private | |
Industry | Video games |
Founded | 2003 |
Founder | Trip Hawkins |
Headquarters | San Mateo, California, United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people |
Marc Metis (President)[1] Edmond Chui (Principal Architect/Server Engineering Manager)[2] |
Number of employees | 300 employees[1] |
Slogan | Seize The Minute |
Website |
www |
Digital Chocolate, Inc. is a video game developer and publisher headquartered in San Mateo, California. It was founded in 2003 by Trip Hawkins, the entrepreneur and founder of the video game publishing giant Electronic Arts and founder of The 3DO Company. The company focuses on developing games for mobile phones, iOS, and Microsoft Windows, and makes some non-entertainment titles. Its marketing motto is Seize the minute.
History
Digital Chocolate was founded in 2003 by Trip Hawkins.
On August 15, 2011, Digital Chocolate agreed to acquire Sandlot Games, a leading casual game developer and publisher.[3]
Digital Chocolate has operations in San Mateo, Seattle, Barcelona, St. Petersburg, Bangalore, and Mexicali.
In May 2012, Trip Hawkins stepped down as CEO to move to a "consulting and advisory relationship" with the company. The company also announced plans to lay off 180 employees.[4]
Galaxy Life is their most successful title on Facebook to date, ranking at 284th bucket of MAU (Monthly Active Users) as of September 13, 2013.[5] In 2013 Digital Chocolate's Barcelona studio was sold to Ubisoft with the Galaxy Life IP and the Helsinki studio was closed.[6][7][8]
In April 2014, Digital Chocolate's four remaining Facebook games—Army Attack, Crazy Penguin Wars, Millionaire City, and Zombie Lane—were licensed to RockYou, along with the hiring of their developers to continue work on the games.[9][10][11]
Games
- 3D Brick Breaker Revolution
- 3D Rollercoaster Rush
- Army Attack
- Crazy Penguin Wars
- Galaxy Life
- Millionaire City
- Tornado Mania!
- Zombie Lane
- Kings & Warlords
- Tower Bloxx
Awards
In 2009, the company's game Brick Breaker Revolution won an IGN award for Best Artistic Design.[12]
Mobile Entertainment named the company "best mobile games developer" in 2006 and 2007.[13]
In 2006, Digital Chocolate received nine IGN Game of the Year awards. Its game Tornado Mania! was awarded Wireless Game of the Year with a "perfect 10" score,[14] and the company was named Best Developer.[15]
In 2012, the company's game Army Attack was nominated for the "Social Networking Game of the Year" in the Academy of Interactive Arts & Science's 15th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards.[16]
The company has been included in The Red Herring Global 100.[17]
References
- 1 2 "Digital Chocolate On Linkedin". Retrieved 21 July 2010.
- ↑ "Digital". Retrieved 21 July 2010.
- ↑ Digital Chocolate acquires Sandlot Games
- ↑ "Digital Chocolate lays off 180 people, Hawkins stands down as CEO". VG247. 2012-05-28. Retrieved 2012-10-21.
- ↑ "AppData - App Metrics and Research".
- ↑ "Digital Chocolate, Which Nurtured Some Of Gaming’s Best Talent, Sells Its Barcelona Studio To Ubisoft". TechCrunch. AOL.
- ↑ "[PC][MOBILE] Galaxy Life joins the Ubisoft family! - Forums".
- ↑ "Digital Chocolate to Close Helsinki Office".
- ↑ Christian Nutt. "Gamasutra - RockYou's new strategy: Rescue games that other publishers don't want".
- ↑ "Players of Army Attack, Crazy Penguin Wars, Millionaire City, and Zombie Lane: Welcome to RockYou’s Growing Community of Worldwide Gamers!".
- ↑ "RockYou buys three Playdom games from Disney to keep them running". VentureBeat.
- ↑ "3D Brick Breaker Revolution Makes Its Debut on Apple App Store" (Press release). Business Wire. 2009-03-16. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
- ↑ Michael French (2007-08-17). "Digital Chocolate wins ME award again". Retrieved 2013-09-05.
- ↑ "IGN.com presents The Best of 2006". IGN. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
- ↑ "Digital Chocolate Sweeps IGN.com 2006 Game of the Year Awards." (Press release). Business Wire. 2007-01-16. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
- ↑ http://www.interactive.org/images/pdfs/15th-Annual-IAA-Finalists-Only.pdf
- ↑ http://www.monitise.com/americas/downloads/awards/RedHerringGlobal100_ClairMail.pdf