Milestone S.r.l. is an Italian

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

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

. Founded in 1994 by Antonio Farina, the studio specialises in

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 ...

s, especially

motorcycle racing Motorcycle racing (also called moto racing and motorbike racing) is the motorcycle sport of racing motorcycles. Major varieties include motorcycle road racing and off-road racing, both either on circuits or open courses, and track racing. Ot ...

games. The company began under the name Graffiti, developing the car racing game ''

Screamer The screamers are three South American bird species placed in Family (biology), family Anhimidae. They were thought to be related to the Galliformes because of similar beak, bills, but are more closely related to ducks (family Anatidae),Todd, F. ...

''. After the studio rebranded as Milestone in 1996, it used ''Screamer''s success for multi-game publishing deals with

Virgin Interactive Virgin Interactive Entertainment (later renamed Avalon Interactive) was the video game publishing division of British conglomerate the Virgin Group. It developed and published games for major platforms and employed developers, including Westwo ...

and

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 ...

. The poor performance of '' Racing Evoluzione'', published by

Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc. (1972–1992), Atari, Inc., ...

with little marketing, lead to key figures leaving Milestone. As part of Leader Group from 2002 on, the studio hired many younger developers and developed multiple games for multiple platforms, including several based on the

Superbike World Championship Superbike World Championship (also known as WorldSBK, SBK, World Superbike, WSB, or WSBK) is a silhouette-class road racing series based on heavily modified production motorcycles, also known as superbike racing. The championship was founded i ...

. This shaped Milestone's identity as a developer of motorcycle racing games. After detaching from Leader Group in 2011, the studio obtained the license for

MotoGP Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the premier class of motorcycle road racing events held on road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held since the start ...

games in 2013. In 2019, Milestone was acquired by

Koch Media Plaion (formerly Koch Media) is a German-Austrian media company headquartered in Höfen, Tyrol, Austria, with an operating subsidiary based in Planegg, Germany. The company was founded in 1994 by Franz Koch and Klemens Kundratitz. The company ...

History

Antonio Farina founded Milestone as Graffiti in 1994. The nascent studio's first notable game was ''

'', a

for

personal computer A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tec ...

s. In 1996, the studio rebranded as Milestone and used ''Screamer''s success to reach publishing agreements with

and

(EA). Virgin Interactive published ''

Screamer 2 ''Screamer 2'' is a video game developed by Milestone and published by Virgin Interactive Entertainment, released in 1996 on September 30 in North America and November 15 in Europe. It is the second game in the ''Screamer'' series. Unlike its pre ...

'' and '' Screamer Rally'', while EA obtained a licence for games based on the

(SBK). Milestone and EA worked on three such games released through 2000. These games grew Milestone's visibility and led to a deal with

. The publisher was in a troubled financial situation at the time and approached Milestone with a game idea for what became '' Racing Evoluzione''. The deal appeared like a good idea to Milestone but Atari provided little marketing and released it in 2003 in direct competition with ''

Project Gotham Racing ''Project Gotham Racing'' (''PGR'') is a series of racing video games developed by Bizarre Creations and published by Microsoft Studios (Xbox and Xbox 360) and Sega (Dreamcast). The series appeared on the Dreamcast, Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles, a ...

''. In late 2002, Milestone joined Leader Group. ''Racing Evoluzione'' attracted mixed reviews and underperformed commercially, leading to the departures of key figures at the company. Consequently, the studio hired many younger developers, who sought to take the studio in a new direction. As part of Leader Group, Milestone initially worked exclusively with the internal publisher Lago but later found that working with external publishers would be in its best interest. Still, Milestone's position as a subsidiary allowed it to grow and develop multiple games for multiple platforms simultaneously. With its younger staff, Milestone developed games that aimed to compete with the '' Gran Turismo'' series, albeit with limited scopes. This resulted in the production of ''

Alfa Romeo Racing Italiano ''Alfa Romeo Racing Italiano'', known in Europe as ''SCAR - Squadra Corse Alfa Romeo'' (''SCAR - Alfa Romeo Racing Team''), is a racing video game for the PlayStation 2, Windows and Xbox. It was developed by Milestone srl and released in 2005. Al ...

'' and ''

Corvette Evolution GT ''Corvette Evolution GT'' (known as ''Evolution GT'' in Europe) is a racing video game released for PlayStation 2 and Windows in 2006. A version for Nintendo DS was released in 2008. The Nintendo DS version is similar to its console counterpart, ...

''. The studio then returned to games based on

, a popular sport in Italy, with ''Super-Bikes Riding Challenge''. The game, released in 2006, greatly shaped the studio's identity, and it continued developing motorcycle racing games, including further games with an SBK license. It also supported

Capcom is a Japanese video game developer and video game publisher, publisher. It has created a number of List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil' ...

games. Milestone grew to 55 employees by October 2007 and to 80 by January 2010, making it the largest video game developer in Italy. In 2011, Milestone restructured as an independent company, aiming for further growth while remaining self-reliant. It saw low earnings of in 2012 and consequently ceased developing games on a

work-for-hire A work made for hire (work for hire or WFH), in copyright law in the United States, is a work that is subject to copyright and is created by employees as part of their job or some limited types of works for which all parties agree in writing to the ...

basis while it began self-publishing its games. Milestone obtained the licence for MotoGP-based games in 2013 and released the first such game, ''

MotoGP 13 ''MotoGP 13'' is a motorcycle racing game developed and published by Milestone and released in 2013. The game was announced by Milestone taking back production, after its departure on the franchise with ''MotoGP '08''. Along with the racing game ...

'', later that year. The success of the studio's MotoGP games led to licensing deals with FIM Motocross,

WRC WRC may refer to: Broadcasting stations * WRC-TV, a television station (virtual channel 4, digital channel 34) licensed to Washington, D.C., United States * Several radio stations in the Washington, D.C. area: ** WTEM, a radio station (980 AM) l ...

, and

Monster Energy Supercross ''Monster Energy Supercross: The Official Videogame'' is a motocross video game series developed and published by Milestone srl for various platforms. The series has been released annually since early 2018, with the third installment launching in ...

. The company's profits rose to by 2017. On 14 August 2019,

acquired Milestone, at the time with 200 employees, and all of its

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

for paid in cash.

Chief executive officer 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 ...

Luisa Bixio remained with the studio after acquisition.

Games developed

As Graffiti

As Milestone

Cancelled titles

References

External links

* {{Embracer Group 2002 mergers and acquisitions 2019 mergers and acquisitions Companies based in Milan Italian companies established in 1994 Plaion Video game companies established in 1994 Video game companies of Italy Video game development companies