TT Games Limited is a British
holding company
A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...
and a
subsidiary of
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (WBIE; also known as Warner Bros. Games or WB Games) is an American video game publisher based in Burbank, California, and part of the newly-formed Global Streaming and Interactive Entertainment unit of ...
. The company was established in 2005 through the merger of
developer
Developer may refer to:
Computers
* Software developer, a person or organization who develop programs/applications
* Video game developer, a person or business involved in video game development, the process of designing and creating games
* Web d ...
Traveller's Tales
Traveller's Tales is a British video game developer and a subsidiary of TT Games. Traveller's Tales was founded in 1989 by Jon Burton and Andy Ingram. Initially a small company focused on its own content, it grew in profile through developi ...
and
publisher
Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...
Giant Interactive (now TT Games Publishing). Its other branches include developer TT Fusion, animation studio TT Animation and mobile game studio TT Odyssey. The company is best known for its
video games
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 feedbac ...
based on the
Lego construction toy.
History
In 2003,
The Lego Group
Lego A/S (trade name: The Lego Group) is a Danish toy production company based in Billund, Denmark. It manufactures Lego-brand toys, consisting mostly of interlocking plastic bricks. The Lego Group has also built several amusement parks aroun ...
's video game division,
Lego Interactive, commenced plans to develop ''
Lego Star Wars: The Video Game'', based on the company's licensed
Lego Star Wars
Lego ''Star Wars'' is a Lego theme that incorporates the '' Star Wars'' saga and franchise. Originally it was only licensed from 1999 to 2008, but The Lego Group extended the license with Lucasfilm, first until 2011, then until 2016, then ag ...
toy sets.
They contracted
Traveller's Tales
Traveller's Tales is a British video game developer and a subsidiary of TT Games. Traveller's Tales was founded in 1989 by Jon Burton and Andy Ingram. Initially a small company focused on its own content, it grew in profile through developi ...
to develop the game, though Lego soon stepped out of the video game industry.
Tom Stone and Jonathan Smith of Lego Interactive's senior management formed
Giant Interactive, gaining the exclusive licence for Lego video games.
As work progressed, Traveller's Tales manager
Jon Burton
Jon Burton is a British video game director, designer, writer, and programmer. He is the founder of development studio Traveller's Tales and its parent company TT Games.
Burton founded Traveller's Tales in 1989. He worked as a designer on ''P ...
recognised the potential of the game and the Lego licence, and how effectively the two companies worked together.
''Lego Star Wars'' was released in 2005 to positive reviews and strong sales, wherefore Traveller's Tales acquired Giant Interactive in April, forming TT Games.
TT Games continued to produce Lego games to considerable success; ''
Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy'' received several awards and nominations in 2006, including the Best Gameplay Award at the
British Academy of Film and Television Arts
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
'
3rd British Academy Games Awards.
In 2007, under advise from Farleys Solicitors, TT Games acquired developer Embryonic Studios and
motion capture studio Centroid, which became TT Fusion and TT Centroid, respectively.
On 8 November 2007, TT Games was bought by
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and became part of its video game division,
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (WBIE; also known as Warner Bros. Games or WB Games) is an American video game publisher based in Burbank, California, and part of the newly-formed Global Streaming and Interactive Entertainment unit of ...
. For Burton's share, which amounted to an ownership of 80% in TT Games, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment paid roughly ().
TT Games expanded into
mobile games with the acquisition of Playdemic in February 2017 and the opening of TT Odyssey (originally named TT Games Brighton) in January 2018.
On 20 January 2022, a report published by
''Polygon'' detailed the amount of
crunch that occurred at TT Games during the development of ''
Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga'', including dozens inside the company being at odds with management, due to expressing frustration over tight development schedules, the company’s crunch culture, and outdated development tools. In addition, the use of NTT (a new in-house engine that was being developed to replace TT's previous engine in attempt to avoid paying royalties for using a third-party engine like
Unreal Engine
Unreal Engine (UE) is a 3D computer graphics game engine developed by Epic Games, first showcased in the 1998 first-person shooter game '' Unreal''. Initially developed for PC first-person shooters, it has since been used in a variety of g ...
or
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; ...
) was extremely controversial within the company, as many employees had been pushing to instead use Unreal Engine. NTT turned out to be incredibly difficult to use, with some animations taking hours more to produce than they would on the old engine. As a result, ''The Skywalker Saga'' would end up being the only game developed by TT Games to use NTT, with the company deciding to use Unreal Engine going forward for their future projects. Follow-up reporting by Fanbyte revealed that management was dismissive of Polygon's investigation and attempted to bury it by releasing a trailer for the game on the same day. They also report that Director of Game Development Eric Matthews and Head of Game Mark Green, who had been identified as
nepotistic hires, were a continuing source of conflict and miscommunication from management.
Subsidiaries
Traveller's Tales
Traveller's Tales was founded in 1989 by
Jon Burton
Jon Burton is a British video game director, designer, writer, and programmer. He is the founder of development studio Traveller's Tales and its parent company TT Games.
Burton founded Traveller's Tales in 1989. He worked as a designer on ''P ...
and Andy Ingram.
Traveller's Tales is based in
Knutsford
Knutsford () is a market town in the borough of Cheshire East, in Cheshire, England. Knutsford is south-west of Manchester, north-west of Macclesfield and 12.5 miles (20 km) south-east of Warrington. The population at the 2011 Census was ...
, England.
TT Games Publishing
TT Games Publishing was founded as Giant Interactive Entertainment in 2004 by
managing director
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 ...
Tom Stone and head of production Jonathan Smith.
Both Stone and Smith were formerly in the senior management of
Lego Interactive, the video game division of
The Lego Group
Lego A/S (trade name: The Lego Group) is a Danish toy production company based in Billund, Denmark. It manufactures Lego-brand toys, consisting mostly of interlocking plastic bricks. The Lego Group has also built several amusement parks aroun ...
, before that company closed.
Giant Interactive took over the publishing duties for Traveller's Tales' ''
Lego Star Wars: The Video Game'', which were formerly handled by Lego Interactive, and became the exclusive licensee for Lego video games.
Giant Interactive was acquired by Traveller's Tales in April 2005, and the two companies created TT Games.
As a result, Giant Interactive became TT Games Publishing.
TT Games Publishing is based in
Maidenhead, England.
TT Fusion
TT Fusion was founded as Embryonic Studios by Nick Elms, the co-founder of
Warthog
''Phacochoerus'' is a genus in the family Suidae, commonly known as warthogs (pronounced ''wart-hog''). They are pigs who live in open and semi-open habitats, even in quite arid regions, in sub-Saharan Africa. The two species were formerly co ...
, in 2005.
TT Games announced the acquisition of the studio on 4 January 2007, at which point Embryonic employed 20 people in its offices in
Bollington
Bollington is a town and civil parish in Cheshire, England, to the east of Prestbury. In the Middle Ages, it was part of the Earl of Chester's manor of Macclesfield and the ancient parish of Prestbury. In 2011, it had a population of 8,310.
...
.
The deal was overseen by Farleys Solicitors, and the studio was renamed TT Fusion.
TT Fusion is based in
Wilmslow
Wilmslow ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England, south of Manchester city centre. The population was 24,497 at the 2011 Census.
History
Toponymy
Wilmslow derives its name from Old ...
, England,
And it develops ports of TT's games for handheld platforms and mobile phones.
TT Animation
TT Animation is TT Games'
animation studio
An animation studio is a company producing animated media. The broadest such companies conceive of products to produce, own the physical equipment for production, employ operators for that equipment, and hold a major stake in the sales or rentals o ...
for film and television, run by ''
Fraggle Rock
''Fraggle Rock'' (also known as ''Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock'' or ''Fraggle Rock with Jim Henson's Muppets'') is a children's musical fantasy comedy puppet television series about interconnected societies of Muppet creatures, created by Jim Hen ...
'' co-creator
Jocelyn Stevenson
Jocelyn Stevenson is a British-American writer and producer, largely for children's shows. She has received the BAFTA Special Award.
Screenwriting credits Television
* ''Fraggle Rock'' (1983-1987)
* ''Sesame Street'' (1987-1989)
* ''Charlie Chalk ...
. The studio produced the film ''
Lego Batman: The Movie – DC Super Heroes Unite'', which was released in May 2013. The company also co-produced an original children's television property: ''
What's Your News?'', with Canadian studio Original Pictures.
TT Odyssey
TT Games announced the formation of TT Games Brighton, a mobile game development studio based in
Brighton, England, on 30 January 2018.
Jason Avent, who formerly headed
Boss Alien
BossAlien is a game developer based in Brighton, UK.
BossAlien was founded by ex-employees of Disney's Black Rock Studio in June, 2011.
In July 2012 BossAlien Ltd was acquired by NaturalMotion Games Ltd.
In January 2014 Zynga acquired Natural ...
, became the studio's
head of studio
Studio manager, studio director, or studio head is a job title in various media-related professions, including design, advertising, and broadcasting.
Design and advertising
A design or advertising studio manager's responsibilities will typically ...
.
In March that year, TT Games Brighton was rebranded TT Odyssey.
Former
TT Centroid
Centroid Motion Capture Limited, a
motion capture studio, was acquired by TT Games on 31 May 2007.
Its assets, including 10 employees in its England headquarters, plus another 12 employees in its subsidiary studio in Serbia, were absorbed by a new entity, TT Centroid Limited and the company moved to
Pinewood Studios in
Buckinghamshire, England.
The deal was overseen by Farleys Solicitors.
They spun off in 2008.
Playdemic
Playdemic was founded in 2010 by
Paul Gouge and Alex Rigby as a developer of
Facebook Platform
The Facebook Platform is the set of services, tools, and products provided by the social networking service Facebook for third-party developers to create their own applications and services that access data in Facebook.
The current Faceboo ...
games.
The company was acquired by
RockYou
RockYou was a company that developed widgets for MySpace and implemented applications for various social networks and Facebook. Since 2014, it has engaged primarily in the purchases of rights to classic video games; it incorporates in-game ads an ...
in January 2011, and Gouge switched positions from
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 especial ...
to
vice-president
A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...
and
general manager
A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...
.
When RockYou faced financial instability later that year, Playdemic performed a
management buyout.
In February 2013, Ian Livingstone was appointed as the company's
chairman. TT Games announced on 8 February 2017 that they had acquired Playdemic to bolster its mobile game development capabilities.
At the time, Playdemic had 33 employees in its
Wilmslow
Wilmslow ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England, south of Manchester city centre. The population was 24,497 at the 2011 Census.
History
Toponymy
Wilmslow derives its name from Old ...
offices.
In June 2021, Playdemic was sold to
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 ...
for $1.4 billion.
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
2005 establishments in England
British companies established in 2005
British subsidiaries of foreign companies
2007 mergers and acquisitions
Video game companies established in 2005
Video game companies of the United Kingdom
Video game development companies
Video game publishers
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Companies based in Maidenhead