Cryptic Studios is an American

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 ...

specializing in

massively multiplayer online role-playing games A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a character (of ...

. It is headquartered in

Los Gatos, California Los Gatos (, ; ) is an incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population is 33,529 according to the 2020 census. It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area just southwest of San Jose in the foothills of the ...

and was a wholly owned Perfect World subsidiary,Perfect World acquires Cryptic Studios
/ref> and is now owned by

Embracer Group Embracer Group AB (formerly Nordic Games Licensing AB and THQ Nordic AB) is a Swedish video game and media holding company based in Karlstad. The company was established under the name Nordic Games Licensing in 2011 as part of Nordic Games Gro ...

through its subsidiary Gearbox Entertainment.

History

Established in June 2000, Michael Lewis and Rick Dakan conceived the idea for Cryptic Studios. "Rick and I wanted to do an online role-playing game," Lewis told the ''Los Gatos Weekly Times'' in January 2007. "We'd been role-playing gamers growing up, and thought that online would be a great way to continue that experience, while overcoming the distances involved. We decided that there were too many fantasy games in development—this was

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

, so we discussed many alternatives.

Superheroes A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...

quickly rose to the top of the list. It is something people could understand and identify with quickly, versus ideas like science fiction or horror, because it provides an infinite background on which to create adventures of all kinds. And who doesn't want to have super powers?" At a

New Year New Year is the time or day currently at which a new calendar year begins and the calendar's year count increments by one. Many cultures celebrate the event in some manner. In the Gregorian calendar, the most widely used calendar system to ...

's party in 1999, Lewis and Dakan met Bruce Rogers, Matt Harvey and Cameron Petty, veterans of

Atari Games Atari Games Corporation, known as Midway Games West Inc. after 1999, was an American producer of Arcade game, arcade Video game, games. It was formed in 1985 when the coin-operated Arcade game, arcade game division of Atari, Inc. was transfered ...

, who had begun trying to found a computer game company but lacked funding. In 2000, Lewis sold his company, Stellar Semiconductor, Inc., to

Broadcom Corporation Broadcom Corporation is an American fabless semiconductor company that makes products for the wireless and broadband communication industry. It was acquired by Avago Technologies in 2016 and operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of the merged ...

. With Lewis' funding and Rogers' expertise, the group formed Cryptic Studios.

Role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

writer Jack Emmert joined the team to work on game design. In March 2007, Cryptic Studios moved to a larger corporate headquarters in

. Plans for the new headquarters include adding a state-of-the-art sound studio to be built by the Walters-Storyk Design Group. At that time the company also adopted a new corporate logo. Cryptic Studios now employs more than 100 full-time employees. On December 9, 2008,

Atari, SA Atari SA (formerly Infogrames Entertainment SA) is a French video game holding company headquartered in Paris. Its subsidiaries include Atari Interactive and Atari, Inc. It is the current owner of the Atari brand through Atari Interactive. Bec ...

announced that it had acquired Cryptic Studios. In March 2010, Bill Roper was promoted to Chief Creative Officer, succeeding Emmert (who became the Chief Operations Officer), but left the studio in August that same year.Bill Roper Departs Cryptic Studios
/ref> In March 2011,

Jack Emmert Jack Emmert is an American game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games and computer games. Career Jack Emmert had been playing ''Champions'' since it came out in 1981. Emmert spent his teenage years reading comic books and playi ...

was promoted to chief executive officer when

John Needham John Turberville Needham FRS (10 September 1713 – 30 December 1781) was an English biologist and Roman Catholic priest. He was first exposed to natural philosophy while in seminary school and later published a paper which, while the subjec ...

left to pursue other opportunities in the gaming industry.Jack Emmert Appointed CEO of Cryptic Studios
On May 17, 2011, Atari announced the divesting of its interest in Cryptic Studios.Atari To Divest Champions Online Developer Cryptic Studios
/ref> On May 31, 2011, it was announced that Perfect World had acquired Cryptic Studios. On April 25, 2012, Cryptic Studios announced that the security of one of its user databases was compromised as far back as December 2010.Cryptic Studios User Database Compromised
In June 2017, the company was announced to be creating a ''

Magic: The Gathering ''Magic: The Gathering'' (colloquially known as ''Magic'' or ''MTG'') is a Tabletop game, tabletop and Digital collectible card game, digital Collectible card game, collectable card game created by Richard Garfield. Released in 1993 by Wizards ...

'' game for consoles and PC. In December 2021, Swedish holding company

announced that it would acquire the North American and publishing arms of Perfect World Entertainment from Perfect World Europe through its

Gearbox Software Gearbox Software is an American video game development company based in Frisco, Texas. It was established as a limited liability company in February 1999 by five developers formerly of Rebel Boat Rocker. Randy Pitchford, one of the founders, se ...

subsidiary. Following the acquisition, Perfect World Entertainment was dissolved into Gearbox Publishing. Cryptic will continue operations as a subsidiary of The Gearbox Entertainment Company.

Products

City of Heroes/Villains

In early 2002, Cryptic signed a publishing agreement for ''City of Heroes'' with NCSoft, which wanted to expand into the United States gaming market. Cryptic Studios' first MMORPG, ''

City of Heroes ''City of Heroes'' (''CoH'') was a massively multiplayer online role-playing game which was developed by Cryptic Studios and published by NCSOFT. The game was launched in North America on April 28, 2004, and in Europe by NCsoft Europe on Febru ...

'', was launched on April 28, 2004. On October 31, 2005, it launched ''

City of Villains ''City of Heroes'' (''CoH'') was a massively multiplayer online role-playing game which was developed by Cryptic Studios and published by NCSOFT. The game was launched in North America on April 28, 2004, and in Europe by NCsoft Europe on Febru ...

'', a separate game that was linked with ''City of Heroes'' through

player versus player Player versus player (PvP) is a type of multiplayer interactive conflict within a game between human players. This is often compared to player versus environment (PvE), in which the game itself controls its players' opponents. The terms are mos ...

combat zones. , Cryptic Studios had released ten free expansions for ''City of Heroes'' and ''City of Villains''. On November 6, 2007, Cryptic announced that it had sold the ''City of Heroes''/''City of Villains''

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 ...

to NCSoft. All of the ''City of Heroes''/''City of Villains'' development team transitioned to work under NCSoft under the working title NCNorCal (NCNC), which later became the NCSoft-owned subsidiary,

Paragon Studios Paragon Studios was a video game developer, and wholly owned subsidiary of NCsoft. Founded in November 2007 as NCsoft NorCal, the studio's remit was to further develop the ''City of Heroes'' and ''City of Villains'' franchises following the acq ...

, which ceased operation when NCSoft closed the game on August 31, 2012.

Champions Online

On September 27, 2006,

Marvel Entertainment Marvel Entertainment, LLC (formerly Marvel Enterprises) is an American show business, entertainment company (law), company founded in June 1998 and based in New York City, New York (state), New York, formed by the merger of #Marvel Entertainment ...

and Cryptic announced that Cryptic Studios was developing ''Marvel Universe Online'', the

Marvel universe The Marvel Universe is a fictional shared universe where the stories in most American comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Comics take place. Super-teams such as the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Guardians of ...

MMO video game to be published by

Microsoft Game Studios Xbox Game Studios (previously known as Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Game Studios, and Microsoft Games) is an American video game publisher and part of the Microsoft Gaming division based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, ...

for exclusive release to

Windows Vista Windows Vista is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was the direct successor to Windows XP, which was released five years before, at the time being the longest time span between successive releases of ...

(and

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...

, which was later cancelled in March 2010). February 7, 2008, Shane Kim of

reported that MUO was canceled. Cryptic Studios said development would continue using a new IP license of

The Champions ''The Champions'' is a British espionage thriller/science fiction/occult detective fiction adventure television series. It was produced by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment production company, and consists of 30 episodes broadcast in the UK on ITV ...

and became ''Champions Online''. Cryptic Studios released ''Champions Online'', loosely based on a superhero-based role-playing game, on September 1, 2009. Cryptic Studios had announced this title on February 14, 2008. It has, of February 2011, implemented a free-to-play model with optional micropayment transactions generating revenue, in addition to its traditional subscription system.

Star Trek Online

On July 27, 2008, Cryptic announced that they had acquired the license to continue development of a

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

based MMORPG previously developed by

Perpetual Entertainment Perpetual Entertainment, founded in March 2002, was an American developer, publisher and operator of networked multiplayer games and MMORPGs. Their headquarters was located in San Francisco, California, United States. From October 2007 to Februar ...

. Earlier, on March 13, 2008, ''Star Trek'' news site TrekMovie.com reported Cryptic Studios as the developer for ''Star Trek Online'' based on unnamed sources, confirming a several-weeks-old rumor.Cryptic Confirmed As New Developer for Star Trek Online
/ref> Star Trek Online was officially launched on February 2, 2010. The game resembles an action-oriented MMORPG, with combat and features divided between Space environments and Ground environments during play.

Neverwinter

In late August 2010, Atari and Cryptic announced the development of Neverwinter, a

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...

MMORPG. Neverwinter was released on PC in 2013,Gamasutra - News - Turbine Sues Atari For At Least $30 Million Over Dungeons & Dragons MMO
/ref>

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 ...

in 2015, 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 ...

in 2016.

Magic: The Gathering

On June 7, 2017, Cryptic announced their new project, an MMORPG based on ''

''. It was later revealed under the name '' Magic: Legends''. It was announced on June 29, 2021, that the game would shut down on October 31, 2021, before the end of its open beta.

Other projects

On May 9, 2007, Cryptic Studios released the Cryptic Animation Rig (Cryptic AR), a free download that gives animators the same tools used by Cryptic to animate characters in its games. Cryptic Studios' website contains several images of concept art from one or more additional games currently in development.Cryptic Studios - Home
/ref>

References

External links

Cryptic StudiosPerfect World Official Site
{{Authority control 2000 establishments in California Embracer Group American companies established in 2000 Video game companies established in 2000 City of Heroes Video game companies of the United States Video game development companies Companies based in Silicon Valley Companies based in Santa Clara County, California Software companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Perfect World (company) Los Gatos, California 2008 mergers and acquisitions 2011 mergers and acquisitions 2022 mergers and acquisitions American subsidiaries of foreign companies