Heavy Iron Studios, Inc. 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 ...

based in

Manhattan Beach, California Manhattan Beach is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States, on the Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast south of El Segundo, California, El Segundo, west of Hawthorne, California, Hawthorne and Redondo Beach, California, Red ...

. The studio was founded within

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. Initi ...

in August 1999 after the publisher acquired Steve Gray's Chemistry Entertainment. As part of a series of cost reductions within THQ, Heavy Iron Studios was spun off as an independent company in June 2009.

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 ...

acquired the developer in January 2021.

History

Early in his career, Steve Gray worked for the

visual effects Visual effects (sometimes abbreviated VFX) is the process by which imagery is created or manipulated outside the context of a live-action shot in filmmaking and video production. The integration of live-action footage and other live-action foota ...

companies Robert Abel and Associates,

Rhythm & Hues Rhythm & Hues Studios was an American visual effects and animation company, that received the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects in 1995 for ''Babe'', in 2008 for ''The Golden Compass'', and in 2013 for ''Life of Pi''. It also received four S ...

, and

Digital Domain Digital Domain is an American visual effects and digital production company based in Playa Vista, Los Angeles, California. The company is known for creating digital imagery for feature films, advertising and games from its locations in Californ ...

. As Digital Domain was trying to get into the

video game industry The video game industry encompasses the development, marketing, and monetization of video games. The industry encompasses dozens of job disciplines and thousands of jobs worldwide. The video game industry has grown from niches to mainstream. , ...

, Gray and the company's

chief financial officer The chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and financ ...

, Chris McKibbin, pitched their services to various larger video game companies. Although they were turned down due to Digital Domain's lack of experience in the field, Gray and McKibbin were offered positions at the game developer

EA Canada EA Vancouver (formerly known as EA Burnaby, then EA Canada) is a Canadian video game developer located in Burnaby, British Columbia. The development studio opened as Distinctive Software in January 1983, and is also Electronic Arts's largest and ...

, which both accepted. Gray quickly discovered the studio's

sports game A sports video game is a video game that simulates the practice of sports. Most sports have been recreated with a game, including team sports, track and field, extreme sports, and combat sports. Some games emphasize actually playing the sport (s ...

s and quickly switched to Square USA, where he managed the development team for ''

Parasite Eve Parasite Eve may refer to: * ''Parasite Eve'' (novel), a 1995 Japanese science fiction horror novel by Hideaki Sena * ''Parasite Eve'' (film), a 1997 Japanese science fiction film based on the novel * ''Parasite Eve'' (video game), a 1998 action ...

''. As the game was finished, Gray and several of the game's developers believed they could easily obtain publishing contracts from outside companies if they set up their own studio. In 1997, Gray established Chemistry Entertainment. The studio worked on several unreleased games, including a ''

Godzilla is a fictional monster, or '' kaiju'', originating from a series of Japanese films. The character first appeared in the 1954 film ''Godzilla'' and became a worldwide pop culture icon, appearing in various media, including 32 films produc ...

'' game for

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 ...

. Chemistry Entertainment was briefly part of Rainmaker Entertainment Group, which also housed

Rainmaker Digital Effects Rainmaker was a visual effects and post-production company headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, with an office in Los Angeles, California, United States, which contributed to the final works for feature films, television shows, commercials and vi ...

, as Rainmaker Interactive. Eventually, the studio landed a deal with

for a game based on the ''

Evil Dead ''Evil Dead'' is an American horror film franchise created by Sam Raimi consisting of four feature films and a television series. The series revolves around the ''Necronomicon Ex-Mortis'', an ancient Sumerian text that wreaks havoc upon a gro ...

'' franchise. Gray sold his studio to THQ, which then established Heavy Iron Studios as an internal developer on August 31, 1999. The finished game, '' Evil Dead: Hail to the King'', was released in late 2000. Following significant financial losses at THQ, the company announced that it would spin off several of its developers, including Heavy Iron Studios. The studio's independence was effective on June 1, 2009. Through a series of layoffs, its headcount was reduced from 120 to 60 by December. In September 2020,

announced that it had agreed to acquire Heavy Iron Studios with its 43 employees for . The acquisition was complete on January 13, 2021.

Games developed

Games co-developed

Cancelled games

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1999 establishments in California 2021 mergers and acquisitions American companies established in 1999 American subsidiaries of foreign companies Companies based in Los Angeles Keywords Studios THQ Video game companies established in 1999 Video game companies of the United States Video game development companies