Supergiant Games, LLC is an American independent video game developer 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 ...

based in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. It was founded in 2009 by Amir Rao and Gavin Simon, and is known for the critically acclaimed games '' Bastion'', ''

Transistor upright=1.4, gate (G), body (B), source (S) and drain (D) terminals. The gate is separated from the body by an insulating layer (pink). A transistor is a semiconductor device used to Electronic amplifier, amplify or electronic switch, switch ...

'', ''

Pyre A pyre ( grc, πυρά; ''pyrá'', from , ''pyr'', "fire"), also known as a funeral pyre, is a structure, usually made of wood, for burning a body as part of a funeral rite or execution. As a form of cremation, a body is placed upon or under the ...

'' and '' Hades''.

History

Supergiant Games was formed by Amir Rao and Gavin Simon in 2009. Both had been working at the Los Angeles studio of

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 ...

, involved with the ''

Command & Conquer ''Command & Conquer'' (''C&C'') is a real-time strategy (RTS) video game franchise, first developed by Westwood Studios. The first game was one of the earliest of the RTS genre, itself based on Westwood Studios' influential strategy game '' Dune ...

'' series. In 2009 they agreed to quit their job, move into the same house, and begin to work on a new game together. At that time, they hired musician Darren Korb for audio and music work. They used a number of freelancer programmers and developers they could call on for help at various times during the development of this first game. Their first game, '' Bastion'', received high critical praise, including being listed among several "Game of the Year" lists from game journalists. It was first shown in mid-development at the 2010

Penny Arcade Expo PAX (originally known as Penny Arcade Expo) is a series of gaming culture festivals involving tabletop, arcade, and video gaming. PAX is held annually in Seattle, Boston and Philadelphia in the United States; and Melbourne in Australia. PAX w ...

as part of its "PAX 10" highlight ten upcoming independently developed games. This attracted several publishers who wanted to help distribute the game; Supergiant Games chose

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 ...

, leading to the game's distribution on

Xbox Live Arcade Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) is a digital video game download service available through the Xbox Games Store, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360. It focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent ...

and also as a premiere title during the 2011 "Summer of Arcade" promotion. In March 2013, Supergiant Games announced their next title, ''

'', released on May 20, 2014. A promotion video was released on March 19. The game features a female protagonist, Red, in a cyberpunk-like city, who has acquired a powerful weapon that she is nearly killed for possessing. The game features a similar isometric viewpoint to ''Bastion'' and also met with critical acclaim. In April 2016, Supergiant Games announced their third game, ''

'', released on July 25, 2017, for Microsoft Windows,

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, w ...

and PlayStation 4. It was described as a party-based role-playing game. In a break from their previous games, ''Pyre'' does not use an isometric viewpoint; the player's party travels across a 2D overworld, and combat takes place on a separate arena. The combat system is also very different, being described as "fantasy basketball". ''Pyre'' was again regarded fondly by critics and was named ''

Game Informer ''Game Informer'' (''GI'', most often stylized ''gameinformer'' from the 2010s onward) is an American monthly video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and associated consoles. It debuted in August 1991 w ...

'' best indie RPG for that year. Supergiant's next game, '' Hades'', was revealed at

The Game Awards 2018 The Game Awards 2018 was an award show that honored the best video games of 2018. It was produced and hosted by Geoff Keighley, creator and producer of The Game Awards, and was held to an invited audience at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angele ...

and released on September 17, 2020, following an

early access Early access, also known as alpha access, alpha founding, paid alpha, or game preview, is a funding model in the video game industry by which consumers can purchase and play a game in the various pre-release development cycles, such as pre-alph ...

release from December 2018. ''Hades'' is an action

roguelike Roguelike (or rogue-like) is a subgenre of role-playing computer games traditionally characterized by a dungeon crawl through procedurally generated levels, turn-based gameplay, grid-based movement, and permanent death of the player charac ...

game based on

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities ...

, where the player character

Zagreus In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Zagreus ( grc-gre, Ζαγρεύς) was sometimes identified with a god worshipped by the followers of Orphism, the "first Dionysus", a son of Zeus and Persephone, who was dismembered by the Titans and reb ...

uses a combination of weapons, magic, and abilities to defeat enemies in procedurally-generated dungeons and escape from his father, Hades. ''Hades'' was met with critical acclaim, selling over 1 million copies and reaching "universal acclaim" status on Metacritic; with several awards won. It was nominated for nine awards at

The Game Awards 2020 The Game Awards 2020 was an award show that honored the best video games of 2020. It was produced and hosted by Geoff Keighley, and took place on December 10, 2020. The preshow ceremony was hosted by Sydnee Goodman. Unlike previous Game Awards ...

, including for game of the year. ''Hades'' would end up winning two awards for best Independent Game and Best Action. ''Hades'' also won the best game award at the 2020 BAFTA Games Awards, the 2020 D.I.C.E. Awards, and the 2020 Game Developers Choice Awards At

The Game Awards 2022 The Game Awards 2022 was an award show that honored the best video games of 2022. The event was hosted by Geoff Keighley, creator and producer of The Game Awards, and was held to an invited audience at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on De ...

, Supergiant announced '' Hades II''. Like the original ''Hades'', it will be a roguelike game based on Greek mythology and it will be developed in early access.

Games developed

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2009 establishments in California American companies established in 2009 Companies based in San Francisco Video game companies established in 2009 Video game companies of the United States Privately held companies based in California Indie video game developers