Bloober Team S.A. is a Polish video game developer based in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

. Founded in November 2008 by Peter Babieno and Peter Bielatowicz, the company is best known for developing ''

Layers of Fear ''Layers of Fear'' is a psychological horror adventure game developed by Bloober Team and published by Aspyr. It was released on Linux, Microsoft Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One worldwide in February 2016. In ''Layers of Fear'', the ...

'' (2016), ''

Observer An observer is one who engages in observation or in watching an experiment. Observer may also refer to: Computer science and information theory * In information theory, any system which receives information from an object * State observer in co ...

'' (2017), ''

Blair Witch ''Blair Witch'' is an American horror media franchise created by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, distributed by Artisan Entertainment (now Lionsgate) and produced by Haxan Films that consists of three feature films and various additional ...

'' (2019), and ''

The Medium ''The Medium'' is a short (one-hour-long) two-act dramatic opera with words and music by Gian Carlo Menotti. Commissioned by the Alice M. Ditson Fund at Columbia University, its first performance was there on 8 May 1946. The opera's first profes ...

'' (2021). In January 2018, Bloober Team received the

Paszport Polityki Paszport Polityki (Polityka's Passport) is an annual Polish cultural award presented by the weekly magazine ''Polityka'' since 1993. It is presented in six major categories: literature, film, theatre, classical music, popular music, visual art ...

award in the "Digital Culture" category.

History

Bloober Team was founded by Peter Babieno and Peter Bielatowicz. The studio was originally part of Nibris, a developer set up in 2006, but sought to become independent through investor funding. The studio formally launched on 6 November 2008, employing 20 people in

offices. Babieno became the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

for the company. In October 2010, following Nibris' decision to exit the game development business and the cancellation of their only video game, ''

Sadness Sadness is an emotional pain associated with, or characterized by, feelings of disadvantage, loss, despair, grief, helplessness, disappointment and sorrow. An individual experiencing sadness may become quiet or lethargic, and withdraw them ...

'', many of the company's developers joined Bloober Team. One of their first titles they developed was ''Music Master: Chopin'' for Microsoft Windows and

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 include ...

. Because it was released to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Frédéric Chopin, the game contains several piano and vocal performances of Chopin's work. In 2013, they released a

free-to-play Free-to-play (F2P or FtP) video games are games that give players access to a significant portion of their content without paying or do not require paying to continue playing. Free-to-play is distinct from traditional commercial software, which ...

multiplayer online battle arena Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) is a subgenre of strategy video games in which two teams of players compete against each other on a predefined battlefield. Each player controls a single character with a set of distinctive abilities that ...

game ''Deathmatch Village'' for the

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on November 11, 2006, in Japan, November ...

and PlayStation Vita. It features cross-play interactivity between the two consoles and consists of three-on-three arena battles. One of the turning points in Bloober Team's history was the development of ''

Basement Crawl ''Basement Crawl'' is an action game for PlayStation 4. It was released on February 25, 2014. Gameplay ''Basement Crawl'' is a maze-based action game with some strategic elements. Bloober Team's main inspirations were ''Spy vs. Spy'' and ''Bomberm ...

'', which debuted alongside the PlayStation 4. Following poor reception, the studio reworked the game by re-using the core game concept while introducing new graphics, game mechanics, story, and game modes. The resulting product, ''Brawl'', was released in February 2015 to favourable reviews and was made available free of charge for owners of ''Basement Crawl''. The developer received the

award in the "Digital Culture" category on 10 January 2018. A new project, codenamed ''Project Méliès'', was announced on 8 March 2018. In October that year, the title was announced to be '' Layers of Fear 2'', to be released in 2019 by

Gun Media Gun Interactive (formerly Gun Media; stylized as Gun.) is an American video game publisher based in Lexington, Kentucky. It was founded by Ronnie Hobbs and Wes Keltner in 2010. History Gun Interactive was founded by Ronnie Hobbs and Wes Kelt ...

. In 2009, Bloober Team founded a subsidiary limited liability company ''iFun4all sp. z o.o.'' and later brought it to

NewConnect NewConnect is an alternative stock exchange allowing smaller companies to float shares. It is run by the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The exchange is conducted outside the regulated market as a multilateral trading facility. Compared to the main mark ...

stock exchange with the initial public offering occurring on 23 September 2016. On 23 August 2019 company changed its name from ''iFun4all'' to ''Draw Distance''. Bloober Team remains the owner of 34.98% of the Draw Distance shares. After about a year of negotiations with various companies related to the acquisition, Bloober Team stated in March 2021 that they plan to remain as an independent company, though will look to do strategic partnering with one of these companies in the future. Bloober Team and

Konami , is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machines, slot machines, and arcade cabinets. Konami has casino ...

announced a strategic partnership in June 2021 to jointly share technology and game development towards video game titles. In October 2021, Bloober Team announced that

Tencent Tencent Holdings Ltd. () is a Chinese multinational technology and entertainment conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen. It is one of the highest grossing multimedia companies in the world based on revenue. It is also the wo ...

became their majority shareholder with 22% of shares. In May 2022, Bloober Team announced a "significant license and distribution agreement" with Sony Interactive Entertainment. During Summer Games Fest 2022, Bloober Team confirmed they were working on a new ''Layers of Fear'', described as both a remaster and sequel of the original series, built using

Unreal Engine 5 Unreal Engine (UE) is a 3D computer graphics game engine developed by Epic Games, first showcased in the 1998 first-person shooter game ''Unreal (1998 video game), Unreal''. Initially developed for Personal computer, PC first-person shooters, i ...

. In October 2022, after months of rumors, Konami announced that Bloober Team is remaking '' Silent Hill 2''. The studio is using Unreal Engine 5 and it will be a timed console-exclusive on PlayStation 5 while also releasing on Windows through Steam.

Games developed

Cancelled games

* ''Gender Wars: The Battle'' for iOS * ''Future Fight'', previously titled ''Gender Wars: The Battle'', for iOS * ''Last Flight'' for Wii

References

External links

* {{Authority control Companies based in Kraków Companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange Polish companies established in 2008 Video game companies established in 2008 Video game companies of Poland Video game development companies