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Climax Studios

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For the Japanese video game developer, see Climax Entertainment.

Climax Studios
FormerlyImages Software (1988–1995)
The Climax Group (1995–2005)
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
Founded3 February 1988; 36 years ago (1988-02-03)
FounderKarl Jeffery
HeadquartersGunwharf Quays,
Portsmouth
,
England
Key people
Simon Gardner (CEO)
ParentKeywords Studios (2021–present)
Websiteclimaxstudios.com

Climax Studios is a British video game developer based in Portsmouth that is best known for their work on the 2004 action role-playing game Sudeki and the 2007 and 2009 survival horror video games Silent Hill: Origins and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories from the Silent Hill franchise.

History

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Climax was founded by Karl Jeffery on 3 February 1988.[1] It was originally known as Images Software Ltd., and its initial focus was on developing and porting games for the generation of home computers, consoles and handhelds.[2]

In October 1998, Climax announced the establishment of Climax PC Studio, a sub-studio focused on personal computer game development and located in an office next to Climax's headquarters.[3] Another such studio, Climax Game Boy World, was launched during E3 1999 and focused on the development for the Game Boy family of handheld game devices.[4] Pixel Planet, a Brighton-based studio founded in September 1999 by Tony Beckwith and Greg Michael, entered into a partnership with Climax in November 1999 that saw Pixel Planet become part of the Climax group, being renamed Climax Brighton.[5] This was followed up by Nottingham-based Anthill Studios, which was acquired in June 2000 and renamed "Climax Nottingham". The studio, under the continued leadership of founder Paul Carruthers, was put in charge of the game Warhammer Online, based on Games Workshop's Warhammer franchise.[6][7] By this point, the main studios in the Climax group's Fareham headquarters had been consolidated under "Climax Fareham".[7] The Climax Brighton studio moved to Hove in August 2000.[8] When the studio Charybdis saw large redundancies in staff in April 2001, Climax announced its intent to hire 20 of its former staff at the Nottingham studio.[9] Climax also acquired Syrox Developments of Kingston-upon-Thames in June 2001.[10] In July 2001, Geoff Heath was named Climax's chairman.[11]

The flagship Climax Fareham studio moved to Portsmouth, into offices in the Gunwharf Quays centre, in July 2002, being renamed "Climax Solent". The administrative portion of the Climax group remained in Fareham.[12] A fifth studio based in Venice, California was opened in October 2003.[13] In November 2004, Climax consolidated its London and Solent studios under the name "Climax Action" and rebranded the Brighton and Nottingham studios as "Climax Racing" and "Climax Online", respectively.[14]

In 2006 Konami announced that Climax Action was working on the next entry in the popular Silent Hill franchise of horror games after the original team behind the series, Konami's internal development team Team Silent, had been disbanded. It was titled Silent Hill: Origins and exclusively announced for the PlayStation Portable. In October 2007 the game was released to positive reviews.[15] In 2008 a PlayStation 2 version of the game followed.

Climax's Kingston studio was closed in February 2008, leaving the Portsmouth headquarters as the only remaining studio.[16]

In 2009 it was announced that Climax was working on another Silent Hill game for Nintendo's Wii console titled Shattered Memories.[17] The game was announced as a remake of the original Silent Hill game, although the term "re-imagining" was used to emphasise that it was going to provide a completely new experience. Later versions for the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable were also announced.

In recent years Climax has developed and published a number of VR titles, including Lola and The Giant (which was featured at Google's I/O'17 event), Bandit Six, Gun Sight, DCL: The Game[18][19] and Dirt Rally 2.0 which was co-developed with Codemasters.[20]

In 2007, following a rumour that had been going around the industry about a possible sale of the company, Jeffery confirmed that he had owned 100% of the studio's shares, denying any of the rumours about an acquisition.[21] The studio would then later be acquired by Keywords Studios in April 2021 for £47 million.[22] In 2024, the company opened a new office based on Edinburgh.[23]

Former development subsidiaries

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  • Climax PC Studio - Established Oct 1998.
  • Climax Game Boy World - Established July 1999.
  • Climax Racing (Climax Brighton) - Formerly Pixel Planet; partnership entered into September 1999. Sold to Buena Vista Games in September 2006 and later renamed to Black Rock Studio.[24]
  • Climax Online (Climax Nottingham) - Formerly Anthill Studios; acquired June 2000.
  • Climax Kingston - Formerly Syrox Developments; acquired June 2001. Closed in February 2008.
  • Climax Action (Climax Fareham and Climax London) - Consolidated November 2004.

Games developed

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Main article: List of Climax games

References

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  1. ^ "Climax Celebrates 15th Birthday With Plans To Expand". Climax. 3 February 2003. Archived from the original on 28 September 2004.
  2. ^ "Images Software". New Computer Express. 8 October 1991.
  3. ^ "Profile". Climax. Archived from the original on 8 May 1999.
  4. ^ "Services". Climax. Archived from the original on 8 May 1999.
  5. ^ "Tony Beckwith & Greg Michael to join Climax Group". Climax. 7 November 1999. Archived from the original on 18 August 2003.
  6. ^ Hong, Quang (12 June 2000). "Climax Acquires Anthill". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 10 April 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  7. ^ a b "The Climax Group's acquisition of Anthill Studios". Climax. 12 June 2000. Archived from the original on 18 August 2003.
  8. ^ "Climax Brighton Moves to New High-Tec Studio". Climax. 22 August 2000. Archived from the original on 18 August 2003.
  9. ^ "Climax Promises life after Charybdis". Climax. 24 April 2001. Archived from the original on 19 August 2003.
  10. ^ Bramwell, Tom (12 June 2001). "Climax Group swallows Syrox whole". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 10 April 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  11. ^ "Climax Appoints New Chairman". Gamasutra. 17 July 2001. Archived from the original on 10 April 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  12. ^ "Climax To Open New Production Facility". Climax. 1 July 2002. Archived from the original on 19 August 2003.
  13. ^ Jenkins, David (15 October 2003). "Climax Opens New Sound Department". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 10 April 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  14. ^ Fahey, Rob (29 November 2004). "Climax rebrands studios in "virtual merger"". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 16 February 2021. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  15. ^ "Silent Hill: Origins for PSP Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 25 January 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  16. ^ MCV Staff (1 February 2008). "Climax Kingston closed". MCV/Develop. Archived from the original on 23 September 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  17. ^ Fahey, Mike (6 April 2009). "Silent Hill: Shattered Memories Re-Does Wii, PS2, And PSP". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 20 October 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  18. ^ Santa Maria, Alex (28 August 2019). "Why THQ Nordic was the surprise star of Gamescom 2019". GameRevolution. Archived from the original on 28 September 2020. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
  19. ^ Barker, Sammy (19 August 2019). "There's a Drone Champions League, And Now There's a Game". Push Square. Archived from the original on 5 September 2019. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
  20. ^ Price, Dan. "DIRT RALLY 2.0". Climax Studios. Archived from the original on 29 July 2020. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  21. ^ Martin, Matt (20 December 2007). "Climax shoots down acquisition rumours". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 3 October 2012. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  22. ^ Partis, Danielle (22 April 2021). "Keywords acquires Climax for up to £43m". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 22 April 2021. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  23. ^ McEvoy, Sophie (19 August 2024). "Climax opens new studio in Scotland". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
  24. ^ Michael French (6 July 2007). "Studio unveils new identity". MCV. Archived from the original on 6 December 2007. Retrieved 1 July 2009.
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