Masthead Studios is a

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

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 ...

, founded in 2005, specializing in

massively multiplayer online role-playing game 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 Player charac ...

s. Their latest PC game developed and published was ''Soul Grabber'', released on

Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

in 2019.

Development history

''Fallout Online''

It was announced in April 2009 that Interplay were working with Masthead Studios to complete work on ''

Fallout Online ''Fallout Online'' is a cancelled massively multiplayer online game (MMO) set in the ''Fallout'' universe that was being developed by Masthead Studios and was to be published by Interplay, with members of the Interplay team providing creative ...

'', a ''Fallout'' universe-based

. In September of the same year, Bethesda began legal action against Interplay about the project, because Interplay had sought to recruit Masthead Studios to develop the MMO eleven days after Bethesda had revoked the ''Fallout'' license. The result was that all rights granted to Interplay to develop a ''Fallout'' online game were returned to Bethesda.

''Earthrise''

Masthead Studios' first independent project, ''

Earthrise ''Earthrise'' is a photograph of Earth and some of the Moon's surface that was taken from lunar orbit by astronaut William Anders on December 24, 1968, during the Apollo 8 mission. Nature photographer Galen Rowell described it as "the most infl ...

'', was released in February 2011. ''Earthrise'' and its engine were in development for six years. At the beginning of 2012, the ownership and management of the game was transferred to Silent Future, a

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

-based company, for further development.

''Guns and Robots''

Masthead Studios is developing an online shooter game called '' Guns and Robots'', featuring robot customization. The game is offered in

free-to-play Free-to-play (F2P or FtP) video games are games that give players access to a significant portion of their content without paying or do not require paying to continue playing. Free-to-play is distinct from traditional commercial software, which ...

format. The graphics and atmosphere of the game are produced with the

Unity Unity may refer to: Buildings * Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building * Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper * Unity Buildings, Liverpool, UK; two buildings in England * Unity Chapel, Wyoming, Wisconsin, US; a h ...

game engine. The development started with an initial limited

closed beta A software release life cycle is the sum of the stages of development and maturity for a piece of computer software ranging from its initial development to its eventual release, and including updated versions of the released version to help impro ...

test, followed by an

open beta A software release life cycle is the sum of the stages of development and maturity for a piece of computer software ranging from its initial development to its eventual release, and including updated versions of the released version to help impro ...

released in January 2013. After the success of the open beta phase, ''Guns and Robots'' has been approved on

Steam Greenlight Steam is a video game digital distribution service and storefront by Valve. It was launched as a software client in September 2003 as a way for Valve to provide automatic updates for their games, and expanded to distributing and offering third ...

and is available on Steam for purchase.

Minor releases

The company released the game ''Soul Grabber'' on Steam in 2019. ''Mr Robo Gun: Bullets Ricochet Puzzle'' was also released as an Android mobile game in 2020.

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://www.mastheadstudios.com Video game development companies Video game companies of Bulgaria Companies based in Sofia Video game companies established in 2005 Bulgarian companies established in 2005