Blitz Games Studios Limited was a British

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 ...

based in

Leamington Spa Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply Leamington (), is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Priors, it grew into a spa town in the 18th century following ...

. Founded in 1990 by the

Oliver Twins Andrew Nicholas Oliver and Philip Edward Oliver, together known as the Oliver Twins, are British twin brothers and video game designers. They began to professionally develop computer games while they were still at school, contributing their fir ...

, who ran the company until its closure in 2013, it is best known for producing games such as ''

The Fairly OddParents ''The Fairly OddParents'' is an American animated television series created by Butch Hartman for Nickelodeon. The series follows the adventures of Timmy Turner, a 10-year-old boy with two fairy godparents named Cosmo and Wanda who grant him w ...

'', ''

Bratz Bratz is an American fashion doll and media franchise created by former Mattel employee Carter Bryant for MGA Entertainment which debuted in 2001. The four original 10-inch (25 cm) dolls were released on May 21, 2001 — Yasmin, Cloe, Jade ...

'', ''

SpongeBob SquarePants ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' (or simply ''SpongeBob'') is an American animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It chronicles the adventures of the title character a ...

'', ''

The Biggest Loser ''The Biggest Loser'' is a reality television format which started with the American TV show ''The Biggest Loser'' in 2004. The show centers on overweight and obese contestants attempting to lose the most weight; the winner receives a cash prize. ...

'', and ''

Karaoke Revolution ''Karaoke Revolution'' and its sequels are video games for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, GameCube, Wii, Xbox, and Xbox 360, developed by Harmonix and Blitz Games and published by Konami in its Bemani line of music games. The Original Conce ...

''.

Divisions

Blitz Games

Blitz Games created the games that the company first became well known for: family titles, often licensed on popular characters and existing

intellectual property 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 ...

Blitz Arcade

''Blitz Arcade'' was founded in 2006 with a team of 35 people. It was focused on developing downloadable titles of a small scope. Its first release was an

advergame An advergame is a form of advertising in video games, in which the video game is developed by or in close collaboration with a corporate entity for purposes of advertising a brand-name product. While other video games may use in-game advertising (s ...

series created for the US

Burger King Burger King (BK) is an American-based multinational chain store, chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida–based res ...

chain. After that, Blitz Arcade turned its focus to downloadable titles and had success with its first game of this type: '' SpongeBob SquarePants: Underpants Slam''. They also developed shooter ''

PowerUp Forever ''PowerUp Forever''Was mistakenly announced as ''Infinitum'' in the original press release. is a downloadable multi-directional shooter developed by Blitz Arcade and published by Namco Bandai for the Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStati ...

'', puzzler ''

Droplitz ''Droplitz'' is a 2009 puzzle video game developed by Blitz Arcade and published by Atlus USA. It was released for Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, Microsoft Windows and iOS in June 2009 In May 2012 a sequel called ''Droplitz Delight'' was ...

'' and the

3DTV 3D television (3DTV) is television that conveys depth perception to the viewer by employing techniques such as stereoscopic display, multi-view display, 2D-plus-depth, or any other form of 3D display. Most modern 3D television sets use an a ...

-compatible beat 'em up '' Invincible Tiger: The Legend of Han Tao''.

Volatile Games

Volatile Games was responsible for the company's mature games. The division dates from 2006. The company and the division ended in 2013. Video games created by this division include ''

Reservoir Dogs ''Reservoir Dogs'' is a 1992 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino in his feature-length debut. It stars Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney, Michael Madsen, Tarantino, and Edward Bunke ...

'', runner-up in the 2006 BAFTA awards for Best Soundtrack. Despite allowing the player to complete the game without firing a single shot, the game was considered so realistic in its depictions of violence that it was banned in Australia. They released '' Dead to Rights: Retribution'' on 27 April 2010. A proposed game, ''

Possession Possession may refer to: Law * Dependent territory, an area of land over which another country exercises sovereignty, but which does not have the full right of participation in that country's governance * Drug possession, a crime * Ownership * ...

'', was cancelled.

TruSim

''TruSim'' was the

serious game A serious game or applied game is a game designed for a primary purpose other than pure entertainment. The "serious" adjective is generally prepended to refer to video games used by industries like defense, education, scientific exploration, he ...

s division. The idea was to bring commitment to training through video games. It is best known for its work on medical-related training programs including the award-winning Interactive Trauma Trainer.

BlitzTech

BlitzTech created and licensed the game development engine and toolchain.

Earlier divisions

Virtual Experience Company

Past projects include the

Tintern Abbey Tintern Abbey ( cy, Abaty Tyndyrn ) was founded on 9 May 1131 by Walter de Clare, Lord of Chepstow. It is situated adjacent to the village of Tintern in Monmouthshire, on the Welsh bank of the River Wye, which at this location forms the bor ...

virtual tour A virtual tour is a simulation of an existing location, usually composed of a sequence of videos, still images or 360-degree images. It may also use other multimedia elements such as sound effects, music, narration, text and floor map. It is dis ...

. The company was acquired by Blitz Games at the end of 2006 but was sold back to former owner Mike Gogan in May 2008.

Blitz 1UP

In 2008 Blitz Games Studios launched the Blitz1UP programme to help independent developers bring their games to market. The programme provided free help and advice on all aspects of game production as well as crowd sourced QA. The programme was closed in 2011 and was replaced by IndieCity, an online indie game marketplace.

Games

Games created or published by Interactive Studios/Blitz Games Studios include:

Awards

2007 * Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards 2007 - Favourite Videogame – SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab * Edge award for Training and Development of young people * ICT Excellence in Skills * Blitz Games wins Develop Industry Excellence Award for Business Development * Cannes Titanium Grand Prix Award for the Burger King games * Golden Clio Award for Burger King games 2006 * Blitz Games CEO Philip Oliver named Best Industry Player by TIGAbr>
* Warwickshire Employer of Choice Awards 2006 for creating an exceptional working environmen

Closure

On 12 September 2013, the company announced that it was closing after 23 years of business. The closure came as a result of the company struggling to raise money to support future development projects, with the demise of

THQ THQ Inc. was an American video game company based in Agoura Hills, California. It was founded in April 1990 by Jack Friedman, originally in Calabasas, and became a public company the following year through a reverse merger takeover. Initial ...

, a major client, said by Philip Oliver to have hit the company particularly hard. The company is reported to have owed £2.2 million to staff and creditors. The Oliver brothers along with the former company's

COO COO or coo may refer to: Business * Certificate of origin, used in international trade * Chief operating officer or chief operations officer, high-ranking corporate official * Concept of operations, used in Systems Engineering Management Process ...

Richard Smithies almost immediately formed a new company,

Radiant Worlds Rebellion Warwick (formerly Radiant Worlds Limited) is a British video game developer based in Leamington Spa, England. It was founded in 2013 almost immediately after the closure of Blitz Games Studios. The former owners of that company, the Ol ...

, in the same town, and were reported to have recruited up to 50 former Blitz staff.

References

External links

Official website
* {{Blitz British companies established in 1990 Companies based in Leamington Spa Defunct companies of England Defunct video game companies of the United Kingdom Video game companies disestablished in 2013 Video game companies established in 1990 Video game development companies