Underground Development, Ltd. (formerly Z-Axis, Ltd.) was an American video game developer based in

Foster City, California Foster City is a city located in San Mateo County, California. The 2020 census put the population at 33,805, an increase of more than 10% over the 2010 census figure of 30,567. Foster City is sometimes considered to be part of Silicon Valley ...

. The company was founded in 1994 by David Luntz and sold to

Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one ...

in May 2002. Following a rebranding to Underground Development in February 2008, the company was closed in February 2010.

History

Z-Axis was founded by David Luntz in 1994, originally located in San Mateo, California. On May 22, 2002,

announced that they had acquired Z-Axis in exchange for a payment of in cash and stock, and up to 93,446 additional shares in Activision linked to the studio's performance. At the time, the studio was located in Hayward, California. In February 2008, Z-Axis was rebranded as Underground Development. Activision reported in April 2008 that they were closing Underground Development, which had the time had under 45 employees in a

office, at the end of the coming May. The studio was fully closed on February 12, 2010.

Games developed as Z-Axis

Games developed as Underground Development

References

Defunct video game companies of the United States Software companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Video game companies based in California Video game development companies Defunct Activision subsidiaries Companies based in Foster City, California Video game companies established in 1994 Video game companies disestablished in 2010 1994 establishments in California 2010 disestablishments in California Defunct companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area {{Activision-stub