Epic Games
Epic Games' headquarters in Cary, North Carolina, 2003 | |
Formerly called |
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Private | |
Industry | Video game industry |
Founded | 1991Potomac, Maryland, U.S.[1] | in
Founders | |
Headquarters | Cary, North Carolina, U.S. |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people |
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Owner | Tencent (40%)[2] |
Number of employees | 250[3] (2016) |
Subsidiaries |
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Website |
epicgames |
Epic Games, Inc. (formerly Potomac Computer Systems and later Epic MegaGames, Inc.) is an American video game development company based in Cary, North Carolina, partially owned by Tencent. Founded in 1991, it is best known for the development of Unreal Engine technology, which has powered its in-house Unreal, Gears of War and Infinity Blade series as well as many other games, and has been awarded by Guinness World Records as the "most successful video game engine".[4]
It is the parent company of game developer Chair Entertainment, and also owns game studios in Seattle, Gerrards Cross, Berlin, Tokyo, and Seoul. Key developers at Epic Games include chairman, CEO and technical director Tim Sweeney, lead programmer Steve Polge and art director Chris Perna.[5][6][7]
History
Potomac Computer Systems (1991)
Epic Games was founded as Potomac Computer Systems in 1991 by Tim Sweeney in his parents' house in Potomac, Maryland.[1] Initially planned to be a computer consulting firm, the company released its first product, ZZT, the same year, a game that Sweeney created while studying mechanical engineering at the University of Maryland.[1]
Epic MegaGames (1991–1999)
During the latter portion of ZZT's life span, Potomac Computer Systems became Epic MegaGames and subsequently released numerous popular shareware games, including Overkill, Tyrian, Epic Pinball, Brix, Dare to Dream, Jill of the Jungle, Kiloblaster, Xargon, Solar Winds, Ken's Labyrinth, Jazz Jackrabbit, Radix: Beyond the Void, and One Must Fall: 2097. During this time, Epic also published and sold games developed by other developers such as those by Safari Software and also XLand's Adventures of Robbo, Heartlight, and Electro Man; and Renaissance's Zone 66.
In 1996, Epic MegaGames produced a shareware isometric shooter called Fire Fight, developed by Polish studio Chaos Works. It was later released commercially by Electronic Arts. A year later, Safari Software was acquired in whole by Epic MegaGames and some of their titles as well as other pre-1998 games were sold under the Epic Classics brand until late 2012. In 1998, Epic MegaGames released Unreal, a 3D first-person shooter co-developed with Digital Extremes, which expanded into a series of Unreal games. The company also began to license the core technology, the Unreal Engine, to other game developers.
Epic Games (1999–present)
In February 1999, IGN reported that the company had changed its name to Epic Games and that it had moved its Rockville office to Cary, North Carolina.[8] Mark Rein, vice president of Epic, explained the decision to move: "Unreal was first created by developers who were scattered across the world," he said. "Eventually, the team came together to finish the game and that's when the real magic started. The move to North Carolina centralizes Epic, bringing all of the company's talented developers under one roof."[8]
The company launched the Make Something Unreal competition in 2004, aiming to reward video game developers who create mods using the Unreal game engine. Tripwire Interactive won US$80,000 in cash and computer hardware prizes over the course of the contest in the first contest in 2004.[9][10] In 2006, Epic released the Xbox 360 shooter Gears of War, which became a commercial success for the company, grossing about $100 million.[11][12] A year later, the company released Unreal Tournament 3 for PC and acquired a majority share in People Can Fly.[13][14] Jerry O'Flaherty was the studio art director from 2003 to 2007.
In 2008, Epic Games acquired Utah based Chair Entertainment and released Gears of War 2,[15][16] which sold over three million copies within the first month of its release.[17] Summer 2009 saw the launch of Chair Entertainment's Shadow Complex, an adventure game inspired by the Metroid series.[18]
Epic Games released on September 1, 2010 Epic Citadel as a tech demo to demonstrate the Unreal Engine 3 running on Apple iOS, within Adobe Flash Player Stage3D and using HTML5 WebGL technologies. It was also released for Android on January 29, 2013. Epic Games worked on an iOS game, Infinity Blade,[19] which was released on December 9, 2010.[20] The third game in the series, Gears of War 3, came out in 2011.[21]
In 2011, Epic's subsidiary Titan Studios was dissolved.[22] At the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards, Epic Games announced their new game Fortnite.[23]
In June 2012, Epic announced that it is opening up a new studio, Epic Baltimore, made up of members of 38 Studios' Big Huge Games.[24] Epic Baltimore was renamed to Impossible Studios in August 2012.[25] However, the studio ended up closing its doors in February 2013.[26][27]
In June 2012, Chinese company Tencent Holdings acquired approximately 48.4% of Epic then issued share capital, equating to 40 percent of total Epic — inclusive of both stock and employee stock options, for $330 million. Tencent Holdings has the right to nominate directors to the board of Epic Games and thus counts as an associate of the Group.[2] A number of high-profile staff left the company months after the deal was announced.[28] In October 2012, Cliff Bleszinski, then the design director, announced he was leaving Epic Games after 20 years with the company. His official reason was "It's time for a much needed break".[29] Later in December 2012, Epic Games president Mike Capps announced his retirement and cited the reasons as the arrival of a baby boy he was having with his wife and his plans to be a stay-at-home dad.[30] He subsequently announced his departure of his advisory role as well as his affiliation with the company in March 2013.[31]
On January 27, 2014, Microsoft acquired the Gears of War IP from Epic Games. The first game since the acquisition, Gears of War 4, was released by The Coalition in October 2016, taking over the development duties from Epic.[32]
On May 8, 2014, Epic Games announced a new Unreal Tournament title. The game will be free, open to modding, and essentially developed alongside fans.[33][34]
In June 2015, Epic Games Poland reverted to People Can Fly Sp. z o.o. after Epic Games sold its share in the Polish studio. The Bulletstorm IP was retained by People Can Fly who has since launched a remastered version called Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition on April 7, 2017, published by Gearbox Software.[35][36] On November 4, 2015, Epic Games announced a new third-person multiplayer online battle arena game called Paragon. The game was slated for release in 2016, for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 4, with playable characters expected to be unveiled gradually throughout November.[37] A month later, Shadow Complex Remastered was launched for free on PC, with console versions being released in early 2016.[38] A physical version of the remaster was available for PS4 in August 2016.[39]
Early 2017 saw the release of Robo Recall, the company's first game for virtual reality, on the Oculus Rift.[40] The game received an 8.5 out of 10 rating from IGN.[41] On July 25, Fortnite entered paid early access, with a full free-to-play release expected in 2018.[42]
Technology
Epic is the proprietor of four successful game engines in the video game industry. Each Unreal Engine has a complete feature set of graphical rendering, sound processing, and physics that can be widely adapted to fit the specific needs of a game developer that does not want to code its own engine from scratch. The four engines Epic has created are the Unreal Engine 1, Unreal Engine 2 (including its 2.5 and 2.X releases), Unreal Engine 3, and Unreal Engine 4.
Litigation
In 2007, Canadian game studio Silicon Knights sued Epic Games for failure to "provide a working game engine", causing the Ontario-based game developer to "experience considerable losses." The suit alleged that Epic Games was "sabotaging" Unreal Engine 3 licensees. Epic's licensing document stated that a working version of the engine would be available within six months of the Xbox 360 developer kits being released. Silicon Knights claimed that Epic not only missed this deadline, but that when a working version of the engine was eventually released, the documentation was insufficient. The game studio also claimed Epic had withheld vital improvements to the game engine, claiming they were "game specific", while also using licensing fees to fund development of its own titles rather than the engine itself.[43]
On August 9, 2007, Epic Games counter-sued Silicon Knights, claiming that it was using its engine without paying royalties.[44] On May 30, 2012, Epic Games defeated Silicon Knights' lawsuit, and won its counter-suit for $4.45 million on grounds of copyright infringement, misappropriation of trade secrets, and breach of contract.[45] Consistent with Epic's counterclaims, the presiding judge stated that Silicon Knights had "deliberately and repeatedly copied thousands of lines of Epic Games' copyrighted code, and then attempted to conceal its wrongdoing by removing Epic Games' copyright notices and by disguising Epic Games' copyrighted code as Silicon Knights' own."[46]
As a result, on November 7, 2012, Silicon Knights was directed by the court to destroy all game code derived from Unreal Engine 3, all information from licensee-restricted areas of Epic's Unreal Engine documentation website, and to permit Epic Games access to the company's servers and other devices to ensure these items have been removed. In addition, the studio was instructed to recall and destroy all unsold retail copies of games built with Unreal Engine 3 code, including Too Human, X-Men Destiny, The Sandman, The Box/Ritualyst, and Siren in the Maelstrom (the latter three titles were projects never released, or even officially announced).[47]
On May 16, 2014, following the loss of the court case, Silicon Knights was sued until it filed for bankruptcy and a Certificate of Appointment was issued by the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy, with Collins Barrow Toronto Limited being appointed as Trustee in Bankruptcy.[48]
Subsidiaries and divisions
- Chair Entertainment in Salt Lake City, Utah; established in 2005, acquired in 2008.[15][49]
- Epic Games Germany GmbH (doing business as Epic Games Berlin) in Berlin, Germany; established in 2016.[50][51]
- Epic Games Korea in Seoul, South Korea; established in 2009.[52][53]
- Epic Games Japan in Tokyo, Japan; established in 2010.[54][55]
- Epic Games Seattle in Seattle, Washington, U.S.; opened in 2012.[56][57]
- Epic Games UK Ltd (formerly Epic MegaGames UK Ltd) in Gerrards Cross, England; established as Epic MegaGames UK on 26 October 1993, re-opened as Epic Games UK on 10 October 2014.[58]
Games
Games developed and/or published
Cancelled
Further reading
- Keighley, Geoffrey. "Blinded By Reality: The True Story Behind the Creation of Unreal". GameSpot. Archived from the original on October 17, 2002.
- A. Berardini, César (June 30, 2005). "Everything You Wanted to Know About Unreal". TeamXbox. Archived from the original on July 3, 2005.
- Porter, Will (October 26, 2007). "The Epic tradition". GamesRadar.
- Blancato, Joe (May 13, 2008). "Epic's Rainmakers". The Escapist.
- Edwards, Benj (May 25, 2009). "From The Past To The Future: Tim Sweeney Talks". Gamasutra. UBM TechWeb.
- Totilo, Stephen (December 7, 2011). "The Quiet Tinkerer Who Makes Games Beautiful Finally Gets His Due". Kotaku. Gawker Media.
- Plante, Chris (April 2, 2012). "Better with age: A history of Epic Games". Polygon. Vox Media.
- Crecente, Brian (May 1, 2016). "Their future is Epic: The evolution of a gaming giant". Polygon. Vox Media.
References
- 1 2 3 Edwards, Benj (May 25, 2009). "From The Past To The Future: Tim Sweeney Talks". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on February 4, 2017. Retrieved June 18, 2017.
- 1 2 Crecente, Brian (March 21, 2013). "Tencent's $330M Epic Games investment absorbed 40 percent of developer [Updated]". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on August 20, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
- ↑ Crecente, Brian (May 1, 2016). "Lights, camera, graphics: How Epic helps Hollywood". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on August 25, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
- ↑ "Most successful videogame engine". Guinness World Records. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015.
- ↑ Gaudiosi, John (September 21, 2011). "Epic Games Founder Tim Sweeney Pushes Unreal Engine 3 Technology Forward". Forbes. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
- ↑ Kushner, David (September 10, 2009). "A Turing Test for Computer Game Bots". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
- ↑ Miller, Matt (May 26, 2010). "Making Of The Cover: Gears of War 3". Game Informer. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
- 1 2 IGN Staff (February 3, 1999). "Epic Sets up Shop". IGN. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
- ↑ Graves, Lucas (April 2006). "How the Reds Conquered Unreal". Wired. Condé Nast. Archived from the original on May 19, 2013. Retrieved July 7, 2013.
- ↑ IGN Staff (April 3, 2008). "Intel and Epic Games Launch '$1 Million Intel Make Something Unreal Contest'". IGN. Ziff Davis Media. Retrieved July 8, 2013.
- ↑ Orry, James (October 5, 2006). "Gears of War has cost $10 million to produce". VideoGamer.com. Retrieved July 29, 2017.
- ↑ Frank, Allegra (May 2, 2016). "Gears of War 4 would have cost over $100M to make — and could have killed Epic Games". Polygon. Retrieved July 29, 2017.
- ↑ Foster, Lisa (November 7, 2007). "Unreal Tournament 3 to blast in on November 23rd". The Market for Computer & Video Games. Retrieved July 28, 2017.
- ↑ Rea, Jared (August 20, 2007). "Epic believes People Can Fly, acquires majority stake". Engadget. Retrieved July 28, 2017.
- 1 2 Brandon Boyer (May 20, 2008). "Epic Games Acquires Undertow Developer Chair". GamaSutra. Retrieved July 29, 2017.
- ↑ Laughlin, Andrew (October 13, 2008). "Epic's 'Gears Of War 2' goes gold". Digital Spy. Retrieved July 29, 2017.
- ↑ Gibson, Ellie (December 9, 2008). "Gears of War 2 sales hit 3 million mark". Eurogamer. Retrieved July 29, 2017.
- ↑ McWhertor, Michael (July 28, 2009). "How Shadow Complex Was Inspired By Super Metroid (And Never Looked Back)". Kotaku. Retrieved July 29, 2017.
- ↑ Buchanan, Levi (November 2, 2010). "Project Sword Becomes Infinity Blade". IGN. IGN Entertainment. Archived from the original on September 19, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
- ↑ McWhertor, Michael (September 1, 2010). "Play With The Unreal Engine On Your iPhone With Epic Citadel". Kotaku. Gawker Media. Archived from the original on August 24, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
- ↑ Reilly, Jim (October 1, 2010). "Gears of War 3 Delayed to Fall 2011". IGN. IGN Entertainment. Archived from the original on June 27, 2015. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
- ↑ Sliwinski, Alexander (July 5, 2011). "Carbon Games formed by Fat Princess devs". Engadget. AOL Tech. Archived from the original on August 26, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
- ↑ Langshaw, Mark (December 11, 2011). "'Fortnite' revealed by Epic Games". Digital Spy. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
- ↑ Sliwinski, Alexander (June 3, 2012). "Big Huge Games members picked up for Epic Baltimore". Engadget. AOL Tech. Archived from the original on August 17, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
- ↑ Sliwinski, Alexander (August 9, 2012). "Epic Baltimore now Impossible Studios, working on Infinity Blade: Dungeons". Engadget. AOL Tech. Archived from the original on August 17, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
- ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (February 8, 2013). "Epic Games is closing Impossible Studios, Infinity Blade Dungeons on hold". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on April 24, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
- ↑ Moriarty, Colin (February 8, 2013). "Epic Games Closes Its Newest Studio, Impossible Games". IGN. IGN Entertainment. Archived from the original on September 19, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
- ↑ Makuch, Eddie (March 21, 2013). "Chinese Internet company owns 40 percent of Epic Games". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on June 25, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
- ↑ McWhertor, Michael (October 3, 2012). "'Gears of War' design director Cliff Bleszinski leaves Epic Games". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on March 15, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
- ↑ Makuch, Eddie (December 4, 2012). "Epic Games president retiring". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on February 18, 2014. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
- ↑ Gaston, Martin (March 8, 2013). "Former Epic Games president Mike Capps parts ways with studio". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on September 9, 2015. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
- ↑ Orland, Kyle (January 27, 2014). "Microsoft buys Gears of War franchise from Epic Games". Ars Technica. Condé Nast. Archived from the original on September 23, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
- ↑ Dyer, Mitch (May 8, 2014). "Epic Games Reveals Free, Crowdsourced Unreal Tournament". IGN. IGN Entertainment. Archived from the original on August 21, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
- ↑ Makuch, Eddie (July 25, 2014). "New Unreal Tournament in development, and it'll be absolutely free". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on April 26, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
- ↑ Hall, Charlie (June 24, 2015). "People Can Fly returns, no longer owned by Epic Games (update)". Polygon. Archived from the original on March 18, 2017. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
- ↑ Dornbush, Jonathon (December 1, 2016). "Bulletstorm Remastered Edition Revealed, Release Date Announced". IGN. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
- ↑ Moscaritolo, Angela (November 4, 2015). "Epic Games Teases New PC Shooter 'Paragon'". PCMag UK. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on September 21, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
- ↑ Romano, Sal (December 3, 2015). "Shadow Complex Remastered announced for PS4, Xbox One, and PC". Gematsu. Retrieved July 29, 2017.
- ↑ Shive, Chris (August 9, 2016). "Shadow Complex Gets Physical Release". Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved July 29, 2017.
- ↑ Wawro, Alex (October 6, 2016). "Born out of Bullet Train, Epic's first commercial VR game is Robo Recall". Gamasutra. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
- ↑ Stapleton, Dan (2017-03-01). "Robo Recall Review". IGN. Archived from the original on March 17, 2017. Retrieved March 17, 2017.
- ↑ Hall, Charlie (June 8, 2017). "Fortnite announces early access release, hands-on the unfinished game". Polygon. Retrieved July 24, 2017.
- ↑ Carless, Simon (July 19, 2007). "Breaking: Silicon Knights Files Lawsuit Against Epic". Gamasutra. UBM TechWeb. Archived from the original on September 24, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
- ↑ Chalk, Andy (August 9, 2007). "Epic Launches Counterclaim Against Silicon Knights". The Escapist. Defy Media. Archived from the original on May 5, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
- ↑ Totilo, Stephen (May 30, 2012). "Epic Says Epic Has Won Lawsuit Battle With Silicon Knights [UPDATE: Epic Awarded $4.45 Million]". Kotaku. Gawker Media. Archived from the original on August 24, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
- ↑ Nunneley, Stephany (November 9, 2012). "Epic judgment doubled, Silicon Knights ordered to pay over $9 million". VG247. Videogaming247. Archived from the original on August 8, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
- ↑ Sawyer, D. (November 7, 2012). "Silicon Knights, Inc. v. Epic Games, Inc.". Justia. Archived from the original on September 4, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
- ↑ Wong, Brenda (May 16, 2014). "Silicon Knights Inc.". Collins Barrow. Collins Barrow National Cooperative. Archived from the original on April 10, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
- ↑ Alexander, Leigh (May 20, 2008). "Epic Snags Undertow Developer Chair Entertainment Group". Kotaku. Gizmodo Media Group. Archived from the original on January 18, 2017. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
- ↑ Sinclair, Brendan (April 12, 2016). "Epic opens Berlin outpost". GamesIndustry.biz. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on March 12, 2017. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
- ↑ Kerr, Chris (April 12, 2016). "Epic expands European publishing operations with new Berlin office". Gamasutra. UBM TechWeb. Archived from the original on April 23, 2016. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
- ↑ Sinclair, Brendan (June 29, 2009). "Epic Games opens Korean shop". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on March 12, 2017. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
- ↑ Ashcraft, Brian (June 30, 2009). "Epic Games In South Korea". Kotaku. Gizmodo Media Group. Archived from the original on March 12, 2017. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
- ↑ Schramm, Mike (April 12, 2010). "Epic Games planning gala celebration to open Tokyo office". Engadget. AOL Tech. Archived from the original on March 12, 2017. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
- ↑ Tito, Greg (April 13, 2010). "Epic Games Opens Japan Office". The Escapist. Defy Media. Archived from the original on March 12, 2017. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
- ↑ Williams, Mike (September 6, 2012). "Epic Seattle created for Unreal Engine 4 development". GamesIndustry.biz. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on November 14, 2012. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
- ↑ Peel, Jeremy (September 6, 2012). "Epic Games to launch new Seattle studio, hiring engineers for Unreal Engine 4". PCGamesN. Network N. Archived from the original on March 12, 2017. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
- ↑ "EPIC GAMES UK LTD". Companies House. Archived from the original on March 12, 2017. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
- ↑ Takahashi, Dean (February 27, 2017). "Epic Games unveils Battle Breakers tactical RPG game on mobile and PC". VentureBeat. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
- ↑ Phillips, Tom (November 11, 2015). "JJ Abrams and Infinity Blade developer team up for espionage strategy Spyjinx". Eurogamer. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
- ↑ Makuch, Eddie (April 10, 2012). "Epic shelved Bulletstorm sequel". GameSpot. Retrieved August 4, 2017.
- ↑ Makuch, Eddie (April 9, 2012). "Gears of War: Exile canceled". GameSpot. Retrieved July 26, 2017.
- ↑ Byford, Sam (July 12, 2013). "Epic Games cancels iPad showcase 'Infinity Blade Dungeons'". The Verge. Retrieved August 4, 2017.
External links
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