New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, New York. Founded in 2006, the company was most known for developing '' Frontlines: Fuel of War'' (2008) and '' Homefront'' (2011). It was a subsidiary of publisher
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 ...
until it was shut down in June 2011.
History
Kaos Studios was formed in 2006 when publisher
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 ...
hired the core members of
Trauma Studios
Trauma Studios was an American video game developer company founded in 2003. They were best known for having created '' Desert Combat'', a mod for '' Battlefield 1942''.Desert Combat'' modification for ''
Battlefield 1942
''Battlefield 1942'' is a 2002 first-person shooter video game developed by DICE and published by Electronic Arts for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. The game can be played in single-player mode against the video game AI or in multiplayer mode a ...
'', to create a new studio based to focus on
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 p ...
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 ...
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 generati ...
. In March 2009, THQ announced that Kaos Studios was recruiting for their then-upcoming game '' Homefront''. ''Homefront'' was released on March 15, 2011 for Microsoft Windows,
PlayStation 3
The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on November 11, 2006, in Japan, November ...
and Xbox 360 in North America, with the European release set a week later.
In March 2011, THQ, after its game ''Homefront'' was released, suffered a 26% stock drop. The large drop was speculated to be a result of ''Homefront''s less than expected reception. On June 13, 2011, THQ announced the closure of Kaos Studios. In the meantime, ''Homefront'' development team has been transferred to the company's Montreal studio. Its first planned for THQ's Montreal studio to take over product development and overall creative management for the ''Homefront'' franchise. In September 2011 THQ confirmed that a sequel to ''Homefront'' was in development, but later was announced that the game would be developed by
Crytek UK
Free Radical Design Ltd. is a British video game developer based in Nottingham. Founded by David Doak, Steve Ellis, Karl Hilton and Graeme Norgate in Stoke-on-Trent in April 1999, they are best known for their '' TimeSplitters'' series of ga ...
instead. After THQ filed for bankruptcy in December 2012, Crytek would acquire the rights to the franchise for US$544,218 at the January 22, 2013 auction. At same day Ubisoft acquired THQ Montreal with approximately 170 employees and with rights to new yet-to-be announced IP in development at the studio for $2.5 million.