Novarama Technology is a Spanish video game developer based in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. It is notable for its

Invizimals ''Invizimals'' is an augmented reality video game franchise developed by Novarama and published by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. The series, which originally began in 2009 as a video game on PlayStation Portable, PSP, has since inspired to ...

video game series.

History

The studio was founded in July 2003 with the mission statement of creating innovative games with mass appeal. The studio began developing PC games, releasing Fallen Lords: Condemnation on Christmas 2005 through a local publisher. Moving into the console space, Novarama began developing Wild Summer for the PC and Xbox 360. The game was cancelled due to a publisher restructuring. Surviving the crisis with just a small core team, Novarama released Music Monstars for the Nintendo DS (known as Monster Band in the USA) in Christmas 2008, a music title for young gamers. Novarama's most well known project is the

augmented reality Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience that combines the real world and computer-generated content. The content can span multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory and olfactory. AR can be de ...

based

franchise, published by

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is made up of two legal co ...

, where players need to hunt for invisible monsters around the house with the aid of a PSP and a camera, which makes them visible. The game was announced at

E3 2009 The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2009 (E3 2009) was the 15th E3 held. The event took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California. It began on June 2, 2009, and ended on June 4, 2009, with 41,000 total attendees. Majo ...

, showing the first game trailer and a playable demo. Invizimals was released in November 2009 across PAL territories, receiving generally positive reviews that highlighted the innovative gameplay and technology, and becoming one of the best-selling PSP games of the Christmas 2009 season across Europe. Invizimals has spawned a sequel, Invizimals: Shadow Zone, released in 2010, as well as several product lines including toys and collectible stickers. A second sequel to Invizimals, entitled Invizimals: The Lost Tribes was announced in June 2011 for a fall release. This announcement coincided on the same day as Sony Computer Entertainment Europe announced their exclusivity agreement to all of Novarama's games in the future. After Invizimals: The Lost Tribes, Novarama developed Reality Fighters, a

PS Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita, or Vita) is a handheld video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, and in North America, Europe, and other international territ ...

launch title. Reality Fighters is an augmented reality fighting game backed by a powerful character editor. By taking a photo of the player, the game is able to reconstruct himself as a 3D character, who can then be dressed up in millions of costume combinations. Reality Fighters was released for the PlayStation Vita on the system's launch date, February 22, 2012. On January 23, 2013 the studio released the Invizimals: Hidden Challenges Trading Card App. The free downloadable app available on PS Vita, PSP,

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...

, and Android was developed in conjunction with Panini, who released over 470 physical cards in Portugal and Spain. The application allows players to track their physical card collection, play a virtual version of the TCG, and view the monsters in augmented reality. Shortly after, the studio confirmed that a traditional Invizimals sequel was in development for Vita, with a planned launched in late 2013. The new title had been described as being more ambitious than previous releases, and was released to tie in with the then-upcoming Invizimals animated series from

BRB International BRB Internacional S.A.U is a Spanish licensing and production company of animated television series as ''Around the World with Willy Fog'', '' Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds'' and '' The World of David the Gnome''. On 31 January 2018, WildBra ...

. At the end of 2016, Novarama became independent again, separating from Sony Computer Entertainment. At E3 2019, Novarama announced Killsquad, an Action RPG on PC to be released July 16, 2019. In March 2022, Novarama announced that it had reached a deal with

Tencent Tencent Holdings Ltd. () is a Chinese multinational technology and entertainment conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen. It is one of the highest grossing multimedia companies in the world based on revenue. It is also the w ...

for the Chinese company to take a stake in Novarama.

Games

Awards

* Invizimals. Special Achievement for Innovation, IGN.com Best of E3 2009, winner. * Invizimals. Special Achievement for Technological Excellence, IGN.com Best of E3 2009, winner. * Invizimals. Game of the Show, IGN.com Best of E3 2009, runner-up, lost to

LittleBigPlanet ''LittleBigPlanet'' (stylized as ''LittleBIGPlanet''; abbreviated ''LBP'') is a puzzle platform video game series created and produced by British developer Media Molecule and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Most games in the series ...

. * Premi Ciutat de Barcelona 2009, Technological Innovation, for Invizimals. * Invizimals. Best Overall Game. Gamelab Spanish National Video Game Awards 2010, winner. * Invizimals. Best Technology. Gamelab Spanish National Video Game Awards 2010, winner. * Invizimals: Shadow Zone. Best Handheld Game. Gamelab Spanish National Video Game Awards 2011, winner.

References

External links

* {{Invizimals Spanish companies established in 2003 Video game companies established in 2003 Video game companies of Spain Video game development companies Companies based in Barcelona