Big Blue Bubble, Inc. is a Canadian
video game company
The video game industry encompasses the development, marketing, and monetization of video games. The industry encompasses dozens of job disciplines and thousands of jobs worldwide.
The video game industry has grown from niches to mainstream. ...
headquartered in
London, Ontario
London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...
founded in
2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...
by industry veteran Damir Slogar, Renata Slogar, and Claudette Critchley. The company has developed over one hundred games and gained international recognition with their game
My Singing Monsters
''My Singing Monsters'' is a 2012 video game franchise developed by Big Blue Bubble and published by Canada Media Fund. The first game of the series was released on September 4, 2012, for Apple iOS. Ports of the game for other operating system ...
which has been downloaded over 100 million times. Swedish company
Enad Global 7
Enad Global 7 AB (also known as EG7) is a Swedish video game holding company based in Stockholm. It was founded as Toadman Interactive in 2013 by Robin Flodin and Rasmus Davidsson as a work-for-hire consultancy studio. The company began fully ...
acquired Big Blue Bubble on August 27, 2020.
History
Early Years (2004 - 2009)
Founded in
2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...
by industry veteran Damir Slogar, along with co-founders Renata Slogar, Claudette Critchley. In the early days of its history, Big Blue Bubble made a name for itself by specializing in
casual and
mobile games
A mobile game, or smartphone game, is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any portable device, including from mobile phone (feature phone or smartphone), tablet, PDA to ...
. Its first game, ''Bubble Trouble'', was used in marketing campaigns by
Nokia
Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporatio ...
and it was followed by space thriller ''Captain Lunar'', which was used as a launch title for the
Sony Ericsson T610
The Sony Ericsson T610, released in 2003, is a mobile phone manufactured by Sony Ericsson. It was one of the first widely available mobile phones to include a built-in digital camera, Bluetooth, color screen, joystick navigation, and was a very ...
. Soon after, Big Blue Bubble began adapting film and television franchises, such as
24 for handheld devices. In the mid to late 2000s, the company started moving towards
console
Console may refer to:
Computing and video games
* System console, a physical device to operate a computer
** Virtual console, a user interface for multiple computer consoles on one device
** Command-line interface, a method of interacting with ...
development, to include the
Wii
The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...
and
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...
platforms.
Return to Mobile (2010 - 2012)
In the early 2010s, Big Blue Bubble returned to its roots in mobile gaming and the '
freemium
Freemium, a portmanteau of the words "free" and "premium," is a pricing strategy by which a basic product or service is provided free of charge, but money (a premium) is charged for additional features, services, or virtual (online) or physical (o ...
' business model. This return to mobile resulted in a shifting focus on original
intellectual properties
Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...
such as ''Burn the Rope'', ''Thumpies'', and most notably ''
My Singing Monsters
''My Singing Monsters'' is a 2012 video game franchise developed by Big Blue Bubble and published by Canada Media Fund. The first game of the series was released on September 4, 2012, for Apple iOS. Ports of the game for other operating system ...
''.
Post-My Singing Monsters (2012 - Present)
Released on September 4, 2012, for
Apple
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...
, ''
My Singing Monsters
''My Singing Monsters'' is a 2012 video game franchise developed by Big Blue Bubble and published by Canada Media Fund. The first game of the series was released on September 4, 2012, for Apple iOS. Ports of the game for other operating system ...
'' was both a critical and commercial success soon after its release, with
Kotaku
''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier.
History
...
describing the game as a "clever combination of music and monster breeding", praising how the complexity of a song can become developed by the utility of breeding Monsters, each monster revealing a new line to the song. Through continued support, the game has grown into a
multimedia franchise
A media franchise, also known as a multimedia franchise, is a collection of related media in which several derivative works have been produced from an original creative work of fiction, such as a film, a work of literature, a television program or ...
, with a prequel, several spin-off games, books, live events and series, and a
board game
Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well.
Many board games feature a comp ...
.
After years in the mobile game space, Big Blue Bubble made the decision to return to console games with the development of the action-platformer, ''Foregone'', a retro-pixel
side-scrolling adventure that released on the
Epic Games Store
The Epic Games Store is a digital video game storefront for Microsoft Windows and macOS, operated by Epic Games. It launched in December 2018 as both a website and a standalone launcher, of which the latter is required to download and play gam ...
February 27, 2020 and
Nintendo Switch
The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...
,
Xbox One
The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...
, and
PlayStation 4
The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...
on October 13, 2020. On May 12, 2021, Big Blue Bubble announced that the ''My Singing Monsters'' series would be releasing its first console title called ''My Singing Monsters: Playground''. The game subsequently released on November 9, 2021.
On August 26, 2020, Swedish company
Enad Global 7
Enad Global 7 AB (also known as EG7) is a Swedish video game holding company based in Stockholm. It was founded as Toadman Interactive in 2013 by Robin Flodin and Rasmus Davidsson as a work-for-hire consultancy studio. The company began fully ...
acquired Big Blue Bubble for $16M CAD, alongside a debt-free payment of $60M CAD.
Recently announced for
Steam
Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...
, Big Blue Bubble is currently developing a music-based
roguelike deck-building game
A roguelike deck-building game is a hybrid genre of video games that combine the nature of deck-building card games with procedural-generated randomness from roguelike games.
Gameplay aspects
Most roguelike deck-building games present the playe ...
, ''Power Chord''.
References
External links
Big Blue Bubble company websiteBig Blue Bubbleat
GameSpot
''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
Big Blue Bubbleat
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
Canadian companies established in 2004
Companies based in London, Ontario
Video game development companies
Video game companies of Canada
Video game companies established in 2004
2020 mergers and acquisitions
Canadian subsidiaries of foreign companies
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