Black Ops Entertainment was an American mobile app developer and former

video game developer A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large ...

located in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

. From 1994 to 2006, it developed sixteen games for several platforms, including the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

Nintendo 64 The (N64) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo. The successor to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, it was released on June 23, 1996, in Japan, on September 29, 1996, in North America, and on March 1, 1997, in Europe and Au ...

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 ...

GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...

, and

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...

. In the years since then it has primarily developed apps for

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 ...

and Android.

History

The company was founded by four

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the mo ...

graduates in 1994, who developed a SNES Volleyball prototype.

Virgin Games Virgin Interactive Entertainment (later renamed Avalon Interactive) was the video game publishing division of British conglomerate the Virgin Group. It developed and published games for major platforms and employed developers, including Westwoo ...

contracted them to produce ''

Agile Warrior ''Agile Warrior F-111X'' is a video game developed by Black Ops and published by Virgin Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation and Windows. It was the first title produced by the studio, initially developing the title from home before they ...

'', which necessitated recruiting a larger team. Initially developing out of their homes, the studio later established their Santa Monica office. Black Ops became known for their line of sports titles, including their contributions to the

NCAA Basketball series The ''NCAA Basketball'' (formerly ''NCAA March Madness'') series was a college basketball game which was published by EA Sports from 1998 until 2009. After EA Sports' rival publisher 2K Sports cancelled its own college basketball game, College Hoo ...

. The developer received an AIAS award in 2000, with '' Knockout Kings 2000'' winning console sports game of the year. In the early 2000s, Black Ops released two

street basketball Streetball (or street basketball) is a variation of basketball, typically played on outdoor courts and featuring significantly less formal structure and enforcement of the game's rules. As such, its format is more conducive to allowing players ...

titles; ''

Street Hoops ''Street Hoops'' is a streetball video game released in 2002. It was developed by Black Ops Entertainment and published by Activision. The game has real life streetballers such as 1/2 Man 1/2 Amazing and Hot Sauce. It is possible to create custo ...

'' and ''

AND 1 Streetball ''AND 1 Streetball'' is a streetball video game for PlayStation 2 and Xbox, developed by Black Ops Entertainment and published by Ubisoft. The game was released on June 6, 2006, in conjunction with the AND1 Mixtape Tour. A scaled-down, mobile ...

''. The decision to move to street basketball as opposed to continuing with NCAA came from a desire to be able to develop "unique play styles with no rules", and avoid the need for permission from the NCAA. The team size peaked at 30 developers during the development of ''Street Hoops'' in 2002. The video game studio shut down in 2006, though John Botti continued producing iOS and Android apps under the moniker such as ''iTraderPro'' (2011) and ''aiTrader'' (2019).https://www.pressreader.com/uk/retro-gamer/20190516/283674006142053

Titles

Games

Apps

*''ITrader Pro'' (2011) *''Avattire'' (2014) *''Californiageddon'' (2017) *''Ace Driver'' (2018) *''aiTrader'' (2019)

References

External links

Blackops.com: Black Ops Entertainment gamesGameSpot company entry
— (archived) {{Authority control Video game companies based in California Video game development companies Companies based in Santa Monica, California Video game companies established in 1994 1994 establishments in California