Rebellion Developments

Rebellion Developments Ltd.
Private
Industry Video game industry
Genre Video games, comics and books
Founded 1992
Founder
  • Jason Kingsley
  • Chris Kingsley
Headquarters Oxford, England, United Kingdom
Area served
 Worldwide
Key people
  • Jason Kingsley (CEO)
  • Chris Kingsley (CTO)
  • Kevin Floyer-Lea (PD)
  • Tim Jones (CD)
  • Chris Payton (AD)
Products Sniper Elite series
Number of employees
 250 (2015)
Website rebellion.co.uk

Rebellion Developments Ltd. (commonly referred to as Rebellion) is a British video game developer based in Oxford, England, known for its Sniper Elite series and multiple games in the Alien vs. Predator series. It has published comic books since 2000 and launched its own book imprint, Abaddon Books, in 2006.

History

Rebellion was established by brothers Jason and Chris Kingsley in 1992. The rest of the team consisted of artists Stuart Wilson, Toby Banfield, and Justin Rae and programmers Mike Beaton, Rob Dibley, and Andrew Whittaker.[1] Their first known title was Alien vs Predator (1994) for the Atari Jaguar.

In June 2000, they bought the comic 2000 AD from Fleetway,[2] and have since developed several characters from the comic for the games market. The first commercial release, Judge Dredd: Dredd Vs. Death was mildly successful. A second game was released in 2006 based on Rogue Trooper. Its 2005 game Sniper Elite was awarded "Best PC/Console Game" in the TIGA Awards of 2005.[3]

In 2004, Rebellion entered a deal with DC Comics to reprint several 2000 AD stories in trade paperback form, including Judge Dredd, Strontium Dog, Nikolai Dante, and Sinister Dexter. When DC left the venture, citing poor sales, Rebellion created its own line of American graphic novels, distributed through Simon & Schuster. In 2005 Rebellion also created the Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files series, which has begun reprinting almost every appearance of Judge Dredd in chronological order.

In 2006, following the demise of Elixir Studios, Rebellion purchased all IP related to the studio, including Evil Genius and Republic: The Revolution.[4] Later, in 2009, Jason Kingsley confirmed rights ownership of former Vivendi franchises sold before merging with Activision in 2008, as well as the intention of making new sequels of those and Elixir Studios games.[5]

In 2006, Rebellion purchased Tomb Raider developers Core Design from Eidos Interactive, as well as Strangelite from Empire Interactive, making the company the largest independent European development studio. Rebellion launched their novel imprint Abaddon Books and made a number of publishing purchases. These included buying Clickwheel, which was used to digitally published 2000 AD,[6] with archives[7] and an online iPhone comic reading application[8] launched later. Rebellion was awarded the Develop Industry Excellence Award 2006 for Most Improved Studio.[9]

In August 2008, Blackfish Publishing, publisher of Death Ray magazine, announced it had been bought by Rebellion.[10] In September 2008, Rebellion acquired Mongoose Publishing,[11] who had previously published games like The Judge Dredd Roleplaying Game.

In 2009, Rebellion's Rogue Warrior game received poor reviews but notable titles have included Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron for the PlayStation Portable. In 2010, they developed the latest Aliens vs. Predator game, published by Sega, which received a mixed critical reception, but debuted at number one on the UK all formats chart.[12] As of June 2011, it is the fastest-selling game of 2010 in the UK, a record previously held by BioShock 2;[13] it was also the best-selling game on Steam, as well as on the retail PC charts.[14] Along with developing the title's characters for video games, Rebellion continues to publish 2000 AD as well as its sister title the Judge Dredd Megazine.

In June 2009, it was announced[15] that Rebellion had acquired the role-playing and board games publisher Cubicle 7. In September 2009, Rebellion acquired Solaris Books from Games Workshop.[16]

Two games from Rebellion are being released in 2012: NeverDead, published by Konami and directed by Shinta Nojiri (who was involved in the development of the Metal Gear Solid series of games), and Sniper Elite V2, which is being co-published with 505 Games. In July 2013, Rebellion bought the Battlezone and the Moonbase Commander franchises from the Atari bankruptcy proceedings.[17]

In 2014, a sequel to Sniper Elite V2, Sniper Elite III was released.

In September 2015, Rebellion announced that the Sniper Elite series has now passed 10 million copies sold worldwide and is also celebrates its 10th anniversary this year.[18]

Video game studios

Active

Defunct

Rebellion group of companies

List of video games developed

1992–2002

Year Title Platform(s)
Amiga DOS GB GBC GBA Jag Mac PS Win
1993 Eye of the Storm Yes Yes No No No No No No No
1994 Checkered Flag No No No No No Yes No No No
1994 Alien vs Predator No No No No No Yes No No No
1998 Klustar No No Yes No Yes No No No No
1999 Aliens versus Predator No No No No No No Yes No Yes
1999 Mission Impossible No No No Yes No No No No No
1999 The Mummy No No No No No No No Yes Yes
1999 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six No No No No No No No Yes No
2000 Asterix: Search for Dogmatix No No No Yes No No No No No
2000 Gunlok No No No No No No No No Yes
2000 Largo Winch No No No No No No No Yes No
2000 Skyhammer No No No No No Yes No No No
2001 Snood No No No No Yes No No No No
2001 Midnight Club: Street Racing No No No No Yes No No No No
2001 Gunfighter: The Legend of Jesse James No No No No No No No Yes No
2002 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Lone Wolf No No No No No No No Yes No
2002 Delta Force: Urban Warfare No No No No No No No Yes No
2002 Medal of Honor: Underground No No No No Yes No No No No
2002 Tiger Woods PGA Tour Golf No No No No Yes No No No No

2002–2010

Year Title Platform(s)
DS NGC PS2 PS3 PSP Wii Win Xbox X360
2003 Judge Dredd: Dredd vs. Death No Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes No
2003 Gunfighter II: Revenge of Jesse James No No Yes No No No No No No
2004 World War Zero: Iron Storm No No Yes No No No Yes No No
2005 Sniper Elite No No Yes No No Yes Yes Yes No
2005 Delta Force: Black Hawk Down No No Yes No No No Yes No No
2006 007: From Russia with Love No No No No Yes No No No No
2006 Dead to Rights: Reckoning No No No No Yes No No No No
2006 Gun: Showdown No No No No Yes No No No No
2006 Rogue Trooper No No Yes No No Yes Yes Yes No
2006 Miami Vice: The Game No No No No Yes No No No No
2006 Delta Force: Black Hawk Down – Team Sabre No No Yes No No No Yes No No
2007 Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron No No No No Yes No No No No
2007 Free Running Yes No Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No
2007 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix No No No No Yes No No No No
2007 Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem No No No No Yes No No No No
2007 The Simpsons Game No No Yes No Yes Yes No No No
2008 Call of Duty: World at War – Final Fronts No No Yes No No No No No No
2009 Shellshock 2: Blood Trails No No No Yes No No Yes No Yes
2009 PDC World Championship Darts 2009 No No No No No Yes No No No
2009 Rogue Warrior No No No Yes No No Yes No Yes
2009 Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron No No No No Yes No No No No
2010 Aliens vs Predator No No No Yes No No Yes No Yes
2010 PDC World Championship Darts: ProTour No No No Yes No Yes No No Yes

2011–present

Year Title Platform(s)
And iOS PS3 PS4 Vita Wii U Win WP X360 XBO
2011 Judge Dredd vs. Zombies Yes Yes No No No No No Yes No No
2012 NeverDead No No Yes No No No No No Yes No
2012 Sniper Elite V2 No No Yes No No Yes Yes No Yes No
2012 Zombie HQ Yes Yes No No No No No No No No
2012 Sinbad No Yes No No No No No No No No
2012 Guns 4 Hire Yes Yes No No No No No Yes No No
2013 Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army No No No No No No Yes No No No
2013 Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army 2 No No No No No No Yes No No No
2014 Sniper Elite III No No Yes Yes No No[19] Yes No Yes Yes
2015 Zombie Army Trilogy No No No Yes No No Yes No No Yes
TBA Battlezone[20] No No No Yes No No Yes No No No

List of games re-published by Rebellion

These games were originally developed and published by other companies, but were subsequently acquired and re-published by Rebellion:

References

  1. ↑ "Making the Jaguar Roar". GamePro (59) (IDG). June 1994. pp. 20–21.
  2. ↑ "Rebellion corporate history".
  3. ↑ "Rebellion picks up Tiga's game of the year award". Gamesindustry.biz. 2005-12-16. Retrieved 2014-05-15.
  4. ↑ Alex (2 March 2006). "Rebellion - Bought EG Rights!". Evil Genius Chat. Jonathan Mayer and Mark Sowash. Retrieved 10 June 2010.
  5. ↑ John Callaham (14 July 2009). "Exclusive: Rebellion CEO reveals plans for new entries in former Vivendi Games series". Big Download. AOL Games. Retrieved 10 June 2010.
  6. ↑ 2000AD Goes Digital: Taking Brit Comics Online, Newsarama, 17 December 2007.
  7. ↑ Rebellion, Clickwheel Post 2007 2000AD Archive Online, Newsarama, February 15, 2008.
  8. ↑ SDCC '08 - Clickwheel Unveils Comics Reader, Newsarama, July 30, 2008.
  9. ↑ "Develop Magazine Studio Profile".
  10. ↑ All change at Blackfish, August 18, 2008.
  11. ↑ Mongoose Joins Rebellion, ICv2, September 2, 2008
  12. ↑ "News - Aliens Vs. Predator Tops BioShock 2 In UK". Gamasutra. 2010-02-22. Retrieved 2011-07-20.
  13. ↑ Batchelor, James. "UK CHARTS: Aliens vs Predator takes No.1 | Games Industry | MCV". Mcvuk.com. Retrieved 2011-07-20.
  14. ↑ "Best-selling PC download games of the week: 'Aliens vs Predator' tops charts". The Independent (London). February 23, 2010. Retrieved April 23, 2010.
  15. ↑ "Cubicle 7 Joins Rebellion Group", June 2, 2009
  16. ↑ "Rebellion acquires Solaris imprint", The Book Seller, September 3, 2009
  17. ↑ Lee, Aaron (2013-07-22). "Wargaming and Rebellion claim Atari IPs | Latest news from the game development industry | Develop". Develop-online.net. Retrieved 2014-05-15.
  18. ↑ "Sniper Elite Series Sells 10 Million". Gamespot. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  19. ↑ "Sniper Elite III not headed to Wii U for now | Wii U". Wiiudaily.com. 2013-10-04. Retrieved 2014-05-15.
  20. ↑ Yin-Poole, Wesley (June 16, 2015). "Rebellion revives Battlezone for virtual reality headsets". Eurogamer. Retrieved June 16, 2015.

External links

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