Firemonkeys Studios is an Australian

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 ...

and

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

s, based in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. In May 2011,

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...

announced the acquisition of Firemint for an undisclosed sum, making it an in-house studio for EA Interactive. IronMonkey Studios were also taken under EA Interactive's wing back in 2010. In January 2011, Firemint acquired fellow Australian video game developer

Infinite Interactive Infinity Plus Two, previously Infinite Interactive, is a video game developer with headquarters in St Kilda, Victoria, Australia. The company was founded by Steve Fawkner in 1989. After a long alliance with SSG, resulting in the development ...

, best known for the ''

Puzzle Quest ''Puzzle Quest'' is a series of puzzle video games where tile-matching serves as the combat for a role-playing video game. The first game was released in 2007: '' Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords'', a spin-off of the ''Warlords'' series o ...

'' series. In July 2012, Firemint announced a post on their blog that Firemint would merge with IronMonkey Studios by EA and merge their names into Firemonkeys. All-new games, including '' Need for Speed: Most Wanted'' and ''

Real Racing 3 ''Real Racing 3'' is a 2013 racing game developed by Firemonkeys Studios and published by Electronic Arts for iOS, Android, Nvidia Shield and BlackBerry 10 devices. It was released on iOS and Android on February 28, 2013, under the freemium bu ...

'', are released with the new company name.

Acquisition

Electronic Arts, with a market capitalization of US$6.7 billion, announced the acquisition of Melbourne-based gaming studio Firemint overnight in a press release for an undisclosed amount. Firemint is recognised as one of the leading game developers on the

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 ...

platform. According to Barry Cottle, General Manager of EA Interactive "The Firemint team is remarkable for its critical and commercial success. Having them as part of EA will accelerate our position as worldwide leader in game development for mobile devices and online gaming platforms." In January, Murray told SmartCompany the work-for-hire market is growing thin, especially as the Australian dollar continues to climb. Coming under the EA banner will give the company security.

Layoffs

In February 2019, Electronic Arts announced that 40 to 50 of Firemonkeys 200 staff would be laid off, to focus the studio more on live services. This equals around 5% of the entire Australian game industries workforce.

Games

Firemint have produced a number of different games for different platforms and different publisher. Starting with the ''

Nicktoons Racing ''Nicktoons Racing'' is a Nickelodeon crossover racing video game. The game was first developed by Pipe Dream and released for the Game Boy Color, while versions for different platforms were released in subsequent years. Most versions were develo ...

'' in 2002 for the

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, 2 ...

. For several years after publishing their debut game Firemint continued to produce and release games for the Game Boy Advance and mobile devices. It wasn't until early 2008, however, with the release of the

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

iPhone in 2007 did Firemint really expand their games market share. During 2009, Firemint developed their two most popular games, ''Flight Control'' and ''Real Racing''. These games went on to achieve great success with the subsequent release of two sequels each, ''Flight Control HD'' in 2010, ''Flight Control Rocket'' in 2012, ''

Real Racing 2 ''Real Racing 2'' and ''2 HD'' for the iPad release, is a 2010 racing game, developed and published by Firemint for iOS, Android, OS X Lion OS X Lion, also known as Mac OS X Lion, (version 10.7) is the eighth major release of macOS, Appl ...

'' was released in 2010 and ''

'' in 2013.

Released

Awards

Firemint was awarded the Arts and Entertainment Award for being amongst the most successful exporters in 2009 at the Australian Export Awards in November.

References

External links

* {{Need for Speed Australian companies established in 1999 2011 mergers and acquisitions Electronic Arts Video game companies established in 1999 Video game companies of Australia Video game development companies Video game publishers Companies based in Melbourne Australian subsidiaries of foreign companies