Digital Anvil, Inc. (formerly Digital Anvil Holdings, Inc.) was an American video game developer based in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

owned by Microsoft Game Studios (MGS). It was founded in 1996 by brothers

Chris Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, Christine, and Christos. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common. People with the given name *Chris Abani (born 1966), Nige ...

and Erin Roberts along with Tony Zurovec, Marten Davies, Craig Cox, John Miles, Eric Peterson and Robert Rodriguez, creators of the ''

Wing Commander Wing commander (Wg Cdr in the RAF, the IAF, and the PAF, WGCDR in the RNZAF and RAAF, formerly sometimes W/C in all services) is a senior commissioned rank in the British Royal Air Force and air forces of many countries which have historical ...

'' franchise from

Origin Systems Origin Systems, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Austin, Texas. It was founded on March 3, 1983, by Richard Garriott and his brother Robert Garriott, Robert. Origin is best known for their groundbreaking work in multiple genres ...

. Davies held the position of

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

of the studio from its founding until February 2000, when his departure was announced. In June 2000, Microsoft started talks to buy Digital Anvil. Roberts admitted that his team required large sums of money, which only a huge company could provide. The acquisition of Digital Anvil by MGS was completed in December of that same year.

History

Digital Anvil was founded in 1996 by Chris Roberts, Erin Roberts, Tony Zurovec, Marten Davies, Craig Cox, John Miles, Eric Peterson, and Robert Rodriguez. The name derived from the team's idea to provide "hard work and high tech". Digital Anvil offered profit-related pay to encourage creative drive and give employees a sense of ownership in the company. Digital Anvil was purchased by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...

on December 5, 2000. One of the consequences of Digital Anvil's purchase was a reshuffling of titles being developed. '' Conquest: Frontier Wars'' and ''Loose Cannon'' were dropped by the company, eventually being picked up by

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Assassin's Creed'', ''Far Cry'', ...

. ''Conquest'' was released in 2001. Many of the Digital Anvil staff working on ''Loose Cannon'' were reassigned to the company's flagship ''Freelancer''. '' Brute Force'' (still unannounced at the time) was switched from a computer game to an

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the ...

exclusive. Of all the projects being produced, only ''Freelancer'' escaped major change. Co-founder Chris Roberts left the company after the Microsoft takeover, but he still worked as a consultant on ''Freelancer''. Digital Anvil also worked on the visual effects of the 1999 film ''

''. For the next year, Digital Anvil was mostly silent, and many wondered whether any games from the company would see the light of day. Then, in 2001, Digital Anvil revealed a lighter ''Freelancer'' to the press. Although some of the more ambitious elements were dropped, this act proved ''Freelancer'' was not vaporware. In March 2003, ''Freelancer'' was released and immediately became one of the month's top-selling games. In May of the same year, Digital Anvil released ''Brute Force'' for the Xbox. The game also did quite well, setting first-month sales records for Xbox games. In November 2005, Microsoft redeployed the developer's employees to its

Microsoft Studios Xbox Game Studios (previously known as Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Game Studios, and Microsoft Games) is an American video game publisher and part of the Microsoft Gaming division based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, ...

headquarters. Digital Anvil was officially dissolved on January 31, 2006. Hartman, the studio head of Digital Anvil at the time of its closure, was moved from Austin to Redmond as head of

Turn 10 Studios Turn 10 Studios is an American video game developer based in Redmond, Washington. The company was established in 2001 under Microsoft Game Studios (now known as Xbox Game Studios) to develop the ''Forza Motorsport'' series for Xbox platform ...

, authors of the ''

Forza Motorsport ''Forza Motorsport'' is a 2005 simulation racing video game developed by Turn 10 Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox gaming system. The word ''Forza'' is Italian for strength. The game is the first installment in the ...

'' franchise.

Games

References

External links

Digital Anvil, Inc. pageMicrosoft Games page
{{Authority control 1996 establishments in Texas 2000 mergers and acquisitions 2006 disestablishments in Texas American companies established in 1996 American companies disestablished in 2006 Companies based in Austin, Texas Defunct companies based in Texas Defunct video game companies of the United States Former Microsoft subsidiaries Video game companies based in Texas Video game companies established in 1996 Video game companies disestablished in 2006 Video game development companies