Climax Studios is 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

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

that is best known for their work on the 2004

action role-playing game An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a subgenre of video games that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing genre. Definition The games emphasize real-time combat where the player h ...

'' Sudeki'' and the 2007 and 2009

survival horror Survival horror is a subgenre of survival of the players as the game tries to frighten them with either horror graphics or scary ambience. Although combat can be part of the gameplay, the player is made to feel less in control than in typical ac ...

video games '' Silent Hill: Origins'' and '' Silent Hill: Shattered Memories'' from the ''Silent Hill'' franchise.

History

Climax was founded by Karl Jeffery on 3 February 1988. 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. In October 1998, Climax announced the establishment of Climax PC Studio, a sub-studio focused on

personal computer A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tec ...

game development and located in an office next to Climax's headquarters. Another such studio, Climax Game Boy World, was launched during

E3 1999 E3 (short for Electronic Entertainment Expo or Electronic Entertainment Experience in 2021) is a trade event for the video game industry. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) organizes and presents E3, which many developers, publisher ...

and focused on the development for the

Game Boy family The Japanese multinational consumer electronics company Nintendo has developed seven home video game consoles and multiple Handheld game console, portable consoles for use with external media, as well as dedicated consoles and other hardware fo ...

of handheld game devices. Pixel Planet, a

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

-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. This was followed up by

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

-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 Games Workshop Group (often abbreviated as GW) is a British manufacturer of miniature wargames, based in Nottingham, England. Its best-known products are ''Warhammer Age of Sigmar'' and ''Warhammer 40,000''. Founded in 1975 by John Peake (gam ...

's ''

Warhammer Warhammer may refer to: * War hammer, a medieval weapon Warhammer media franchise *''Warhammer'', a series of games and related media: ** ''Warhammer'' (game), a table-top fantasy miniature wargame, and origin of the franchise ** ''Warhammer Fan ...

'' franchise. By this point, the main studios in the Climax group's Fareham headquarters had been consolidated under "Climax Fareham". The Climax Brighton studio moved to

Hove Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th cen ...

in August 2000. When the studio

Charybdis Charybdis (; grc, Χάρυβδις, Khárybdis, ; la, Charybdis, ) is a sea monster in Greek mythology. She, with the sea monster Scylla, appears as a challenge to epic characters such as Odysseus, Jason, and Aeneas. Scholarship locates her in t ...

saw large redundancies in staff in April 2001, Climax announced its intent to hire 20 of its former staff at the Nottingham studio. Climax also acquired Syrox Developments of

Kingston-upon-Thames Kingston upon Thames (hyphenated until 1965, colloquially known as Kingston) is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, England. It is situated on the River Thames and southwest of Charing Cross. It is notable as ...

in June 2001. In July 2001, Geoff Heath was named Climax's

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

. The flagship Climax Fareham studio moved to

, into offices in the

Gunwharf Quays Gunwharf Quays is a shopping centre located in the Portsea area of the city of Portsmouth in England. It was constructed in the early 21st century on the site of what had once been HM Gunwharf, Portsmouth. This was one of several such faciliti ...

centre, in July 2002, being renamed "Climax Solent". The administrative portion of the Climax group remained in Fareham. A fifth studio based in

Venice, California Venice is a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California. Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, when it was annexed b ...

was opened in October 2003. 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. In 2006

Konami , is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company, video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machin ...

announced that Climax Action was working on the next entry in the popular ''Silent Hill'' franchise of

horror games A horror game is a video game genre centered on horror fiction and typically designed to scare the player. Unlike most other video game genres, which are classified by their gameplay, horror games are nearly always based on narrative or visual pr ...

after the original team behind the series, Konami's internal development team

Team Silent Team Silent was a development team within Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo (KCET), responsible for the first four games in the ''Silent Hill'' franchise by Konami released from 1999 to 2004. Later titles were developed by non-Japanese companie ...

, had been disbanded. It was titled '' Silent Hill: Origins'' and exclusively announced for the

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 2005, ...

. In October 2007 the game was released to positive reviews. In 2008 a

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 ...

version of the game followed. Climax's Kingston studio was closed in February 2008, leaving the Portsmouth headquarters as the only remaining studio. In 2009 it was announced that Climax was working on another ''Silent Hill'' game for Nintendo's Wii console titled '' Shattered Memories''. The game was announced as a

remake A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same ...

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'' and '' Dirt Rally 2.0'' which was co-developed with

Codemasters The Codemasters Software Company Limited (trade name: Codemasters) is a British video game developer based in Southam, England, which is a subsidiary of American corporation Electronic Arts. Founded by brothers Richard and David Darling in Octo ...

. In 2007, following a rumor that had been going around the industry about a possible sale of the company, Jeffrey confirmed that he had owned 100% of the studio's shares, denying any of the rumors about an acquisition. The studio would then later be acquired by

Keywords Studios Keywords Studios plc is an Irish video game industry services company based in Leopardstown. Founded in 1998 by Giorgio Guastalla and Teresa Luppino, the company initially provided localisation services for business software before transitionin ...

in April 2021 for .

Former development subsidiaries

* 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 Disney Interactive Studios, Inc. was an American video game developer and publisher owned by The Walt Disney Company through Disney Interactive. Prior to its closure in 2016, it developed and distributed multi-platform video games and interact ...

in September 2006 and later renamed to

Black Rock Studio Black Rock Studio Limited was a British video game developer based in Brighton, England. It was a division of Disney Interactive Studios. The studio was founded by Tony Beckwith in 1998 as Pixel Planet. It was acquired by the Climax Group in 19 ...

. * 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

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1988 establishments in England 2021 mergers and acquisitions British companies established in 1988 British subsidiaries of foreign companies Companies based in Portsmouth Keywords Studios Video game companies established in 1988 Video game companies of the United Kingdom Video game development companies