Gamefam Studios is an American

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 ...

company. Aiming to develop for the

metaverse In science fiction, the "metaverse" is a hypothetical iteration of the Internet as a single, universal, and immersive virtual world that is facilitated by the use of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) headsets. In colloquial usage, ...

, it is the first professional company to utilize '' Roblox'' as a video game development platform and also uses ''

Fortnite Creative ''Fortnite Creative'' is a sandbox game, developed and published by Epic Games, part of the video game ''Fortnite''. It was released on December 6, 2018 for Microsoft Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, iOS, Nintendo Switch, and Android. ...

'' and ''

Minecraft ''Minecraft'' is a sandbox game developed by Mojang Studios. The game was created by Markus "Notch" Persson in the Java programming language. Following several early private testing versions, it was first made public in May 2009 before being ...

''. It has produced content for brands such as ''

Sonic the Hedgehog is a Japanese video game series and media franchise created by Sega. The franchise follows Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battles the evil Doctor Eggman, a mad scientist. The main ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' games are platformers mo ...

'' (''

Sonic Speed Simulator ''Sonic Speed Simulator'' is a massively multiplayer online incremental platform game developed and published by Gamefam Studios, under license and in association with Sega of America, and serves as an official entry in the ''Sonic the Hedgehog' ...

''), the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

Hot Wheels Hot Wheels is an American brand of scale model cars introduced by American toymaker Mattel in 1968. It was the primary competitor of Matchbox until 1997, when Mattel bought Tyco Toys, then owner of Matchbox. Many automobile manufacturers have ...

Doctor Strange Doctor Stephen Strange is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Steve Ditko, the character first appeared in ''Strange Tales'' #110 (cover-dated July 1963). Doctor Strange serves as Sorce ...

, '' Kung Fu Panda'',

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

, and

Puma Puma or PUMA may refer to: Animals * ''Puma'' (genus), a genus in the family Felidae ** Puma (species) or cougar, a large cat Businesses and organisations * Puma (brand), a multinational shoe and sportswear company * Puma Energy, a mid- and d ...

and staged

virtual concert A virtual concert, also called V-concert or virtual live, refers to a performance in which the performers are represented by virtual avatars. Virtual concerts can take place in real life, where digital representations of the performers are projec ...

s for musicians such as

The Chainsmokers The Chainsmokers are an American electronic DJ and production duo consisting of Alexander "Alex" Pall and Andrew "Drew" Taggart. They started out by releasing remixes of songs by indie artists. The EDM- pop duo achieved a breakthrough with the ...

and Saweetie. Gamefam has been accused of mistreatment of its employees.

History

Gamefam was founded in 2019 in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

by Joe Ferencz, the current

CEO 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 especially ...

. Ferencz was originally involved with bringing

into the ''Forza'' series and '' Rocket League'', and while doing so, he was observing '' Robloxs success as a free-to-play video game platform. Explaining his reason for founding Gamefam, Ferencz told ''

TechCrunch TechCrunch is an American online newspaper focusing on high tech and startup companies. It was founded in June 2005 by Archimedes Ventures, led by partners Michael Arrington and Keith Teare. In 2010, AOL acquired the company for approximately ...

'', "''Roblox'' truly is the

Metaverse In science fiction, the "metaverse" is a hypothetical iteration of the Internet as a single, universal, and immersive virtual world that is facilitated by the use of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) headsets. In colloquial usage, ...

for this younger generation. What that means is that each game needs to have a very distinctive and attractive immersion to it, in a way that mobile free-to-play doesn’t." The company is described by Ferencz as the "first and only fully-dedicated, professional game publishing company on Roblox" and has recruited veteran ''Roblox'' developers. In November 2020, Gamefam, with the partnership of

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in more ...

, released ''Hot Wheels Open World'' on ''Roblox'', which is a

-themed open world

racing game Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic rac ...

. In October 2021, Gamefam partnered with WowWee to create toys for their popular ''Roblox'' game ''Twilight Daycare''. In November 2021, Gamefam announced in an interview with ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' that they partnered with WildBrain to start integrating various brands into their portfolio of ''Roblox'' titles. In March 2022, Gamefam announced they have raised $25 million in its Series A funding round, which was led by Konvoy Ventures and participated in by Play Ventures, Makers Fund,

Bessemer Venture Partners Bessemer Venture Partners (Bessemer) is an American venture capital firm. The firm has over $19 billion under management and invests globally, with offices in San Francisco, Redwood City, New York City, Boston, Israel, India, and London. Bessemer ...

and Galaxy Interactive. In April 2022, Gamefam, with the partnership of

Sega of America is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, respectively. Its division ...

, released ''

'' on ''Roblox'', which is a ''

'' game. Its launch was the largest on ''Roblox'', with 70 million plays and 275,000 concurrent players in the first week of its release, and it would reach 500 million visits in its first four months. Joe Ferencz called it "the No. 1 branded game of all time on Roblox".

Accusations of mistreatment of employees

In December 2022, former employees accused Gamefam of crunching their employees while underpaying them, as well as laying some off before the holidays without much warning, which was against the contract. Because the employees reported working on ''

'' while being mistreated, #Sonic SweatshopSimulator trended on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

as a protest by fans. Gamefam released a statement denying the accusations and began banning users who brought up them up in the ''Sonic Speed Simulator'' Discord server. In April 2023, Gamefam settled with an employee after he had filed a complaint to the

National Labor Relations Board The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is an independent agency of the federal government of the United States with responsibilities for enforcing U.S. labor law in relation to collective bargaining and unfair labor practices. Under the Natio ...

alleging that the company had violated the

National Labor Relations Act The National Labor Relations Act of 1935, also known as the Wagner Act, is a foundational statute of United States labor law that guarantees the right of private sector employees to organize into trade unions, engage in collective bargaining, and ...

by threatening retaliation against employees that spoke with coworkers about their salaries. The employee was paid $5,000 USD in bonuses and Gamefam was legally obligated to remind its employees of their rights.

Games

Gamefam's current '' Roblox'' games include: * ''All Star Tower Defense'', a round-based

tower defense Tower defense (TD) is a subgenre of strategy games where the goal is to defend a player's territories or possessions by obstructing the enemy attackers or by stopping enemies from reaching the exits, usually achieved by placing defensive struc ...

game inspired by

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

characters. * ''Build-A-Bear Tycoon'', an

idle Idle generally refers to idleness, a lack of motion or energy. Idle or ''idling'', may also refer to: Technology * Idle (engine), engine running without load ** Idle speed * Idle (CPU), CPU non-utilisation or low-priority mode ** Synchronous ...

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 ...

for Build-A-Bear Workshop. * ''Build to Survive Simulator'', a round-based survival sandbox game. * ''Car Dealership Tycoon'', a car dealership-based tycoon game. * ''

Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; "Circus of the Sun" or "Sun Circus") is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Ju ...

Tycoon'' * ''Deathrun'', a round-based

obstacle course An obstacle course is a series of challenging physical obstacles an individual, team or animal must navigate, usually while being timed. Obstacle courses can include running, climbing, jumping, crawling, swimming, and balancing elements with th ...

game. * ''Deliveryman Simulator'', a delivery-based simulator. * ''Easy Obby'', a platform game based on

s. * ''Eating Simulator'', an eating-based simulator. * ''Festival Tycoon'' * ''Funky Friday'', a rhythm game unofficially based on ''

Friday Night Funkin' ''Friday Night Funkin (stylized as FRIDAY NIGHT FUNKIN' and often abbreviated to ''FNF'') is an open-source donationware rhythm game first released in 2020 for a game jam. The game was developed by a team of four Newgrounds users, Cameron "ninj ...

''. Funky Friday is allegedly getting sued by the creators of Friday night funkin in this tweet https://twitter.com/Roblox_RTC/status/1601810229339230208?lang=en * ''Gym Tycoon'', a gym based tycoon game. * ''Harmony Hills'' (formerly ''Rhythm City'') * ''He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: You Have The Power!'', a licensed game based on the 2021 TV series '' He-Man and the Masters of the Universe''. * ''Hot Wheels Open World'', a licensed ''

'' open world

. * ''Junkbots Story'', a licensed ''

Hexbug HEXBUG is a brand of infrared and automaton toys developed and distributed by Innovation First International. HEXBUG uses many elements used in BEAM robotics. First piloted in the US through RadioShack, HEXBUG is now sold in most major retail s ...

'' story game based on one of their franchises, JunkBots. * ''Little World'', an insect

adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or Puzzle video game, puzzle-solving. The Video game genres, genre's focus on story allows it to draw ...

. * ''Maple Hospital'', a

hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...

-based

roleplay 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 ...

. * ''Military Tycoon'', a military

shooter game Shooter video games or shooters are a subgenre of action video games where the focus is almost entirely on the defeat of the character's enemies using the weapons given to the player. Usually these weapons are firearms or some other long-range ...

which lets players build their own

military base A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. A military base always provides accommodations for ...

. * ''Ore Mining Tycoon!'' * ''Polybattle'', a

first-person shooter First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the pl ...

. * ''Red Light, Green Light'', a game unofficially based on '' Squid Game.'' * ''RoBeats'', a rhythm game. * ''Shadovis RPG'' * ''Shoot Out'', a western-themed

third-person shooter Third-person shooter (TPS) is a subgenre of 3D shooter games in which the gameplay consists primarily of shooting. It is closely related to first-person shooters, but with the player character visible on-screen during play. While 2D shoot 'em ...

. * ''Slashing Simulator'', a weapon-based simulator in which involves the use of

katanas A is a Japanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands. Developed later than the ''tachi'', it was used by samurai in feudal Japan and worn with the edge fa ...

. * ''

'', a licensed ''

'' incremental platform game. * ''Speed Run Simulator'', a speed-based simulator game. * ''Starving Artists'', a donation-based game where players can create their own pixel art and sell it to other players. * ''Super

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

Tycoon'' * ''Tower of Misery'', a round-based platform game. * ''Twilight Daycare'', a daycare

. * ''Ultimate Driving'', an open world racing game based in the Eastern United States. * ''Ultra Power Tycoon'' * ''War Tycoon'', a military

that uses the Advanced Combat System framework which lets players build their own

. * ''Weapon Fighting Simulator'' * ''Workout Island'', a weight lifting simulation game.

References

External links

* {{Roblox Corporation American companies established in 2019 Companies based in Los Angeles Privately held companies based in California Video game companies based in California Roblox Fortnite Minecraft Corporate scandals Video game controversies