Traveller's Tales is a British
video game developer
A video game developer is a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large business with em ...
and a
subsidiary
A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...
of
TT Games
TT Games Limited is a British holding company and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Games. The company was established in 2005 through the merger of developer Traveller's Tales and publisher Giant Interactive (now TT Games Publishing). Its other b ...
. Traveller's Tales was founded in 1989 by
Jon Burton
Jon Burton is a British video game designer, director, 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 '' Puggsy' ...
and Andy Ingram. Initially a small company focused on its own games, it grew in profile through developing games with larger companies such as
Sega
is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...
and
Disney Interactive Studios
Disney Interactive Studios, Inc. was an American video game developer and publisher owned by The Walt Disney Company through Disney Interactive. Prior to its closure in 2016, it developed and distributed multi-platform video games and inter ...
. In 2004, development on ''
Lego Star Wars: The Video Game'' started with
Giant Interactive Entertainment, the exclusive rights holder to
Lego
Lego (, ; ; stylised as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. Lego consists of variously coloured interlocking plastic bricks made of acrylonitri ...
video games. Traveller's Tales bought the company in 2005, and the two merged to create
TT Games
TT Games Limited is a British holding company and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Games. The company was established in 2005 through the merger of developer Traveller's Tales and publisher Giant Interactive (now TT Games Publishing). Its other b ...
, with Traveller's Tales becoming the new company's development arm.
History
Founding and work with Sega and Disney (1989–2007)
Traveller's Tales started developing games with
Psygnosis
Psygnosis Limited (; known as SCE Studio Liverpool or simply Studio Liverpool from 1999) was a British video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher headquartered at Wavertree Technology Park in Liverpool. Founded in 1984 by Ian Het ...
, which were most notable for creating 3D effects. Their first game was ''
Leander'', also known as ''The Legend of Galahad''. With Psygnosis they developed a video game adaption of ''
Bram Stoker's Dracula'', as well as other original productions like ''
Puggsy'' and ''
Rascal''. Thanks to an agreement between Psygnosis,
Sony Imagesoft
Sony Imagesoft Inc. was an American video game publisher that operated from 1989 to 1995 and was located in California. It was established in January 1989 in Los Angeles, California, as a subsidiary of the Japan-based CBS/Sony Group (CSG) and in ...
and Disney Interactive Studios, Traveller's Tales could produce several games based on Disney's properties, such as the Mickey Mouse game ''
Mickey Mania: The Timeless Adventures of Mickey Mouse'' and other games based on
Pixar
Pixar (), doing business as Pixar Animation Studios, is an American animation studio based in Emeryville, California, known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films. Pixar is a subsidiary of Walt Disney ...
films like ''
Toy Story
''Toy Story'' is a 1995 American animated adventure comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It is the first installment in the Toy Story (franchise), ''Toy Story'' franchise and the Firsts in animation, firs ...
'', ''
A Bug's Life
''A Bug's Life'' (stylized in all lowercase) is a 1998 American animated comedy film directed by John Lasseter from a screenplay written by Andrew Stanton, Donald McEnery, and Bob Shaw, and a story conceived by Lasseter, Stanton, and Joe Ran ...
'', ''
Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue'' and ''
Finding Nemo
''Finding Nemo'' is a 2003 American animated comedy-drama adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The film was directed by Andrew Stanton, co-directed by Lee Unkrich, and produced by Graham Walters, from ...
'' (the latter two thanks to agreements with
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 o ...
and
THQ).
Traveller's Tales was best known in the 1990s and early 2000s for their second-party collaboration with
Sega
is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...
to develop games based on the ''
Sonic the Hedgehog
is a video game series and media franchise created by the Japanese developers Yuji Naka, Naoto Ohshima, and Hirokazu Yasuhara for Sega. The franchise follows Sonic the Hedgehog (character), Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battle ...
'' franchise, resulting in ''
Sonic 3D Blast
, known in PAL regions as is a 1996 platform game in the ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' series for the Sega Genesis and Sega Saturn. As Sonic the Hedgehog, the player embarks on a journey to save the Flickies, birds enslaved by Doctor Robotnik. The ...
'' and ''
Sonic R'', which were produced in close effort with Sega's
Sonic Team
, doing business as , is a Japanese video game developer owned by Sega. Sonic Team is best known for its ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' series and games such as '' Nights into Dreams'' and '' Phantasy Star Online''.
The initial team, formed in 1990, c ...
. Both games were regarded as technical achievements in the
Mega Drive
The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Sys ...
(''Sonic 3D Blast'') and the
Sega Saturn
The is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it is the successor to the succes ...
(''Sonic R''), adding to the high-tech development status they already had with games like ''Puggsy'', ''Mickey Mania'' and ''Toy Story''. They were also responsible for ''
Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex'' and ''
Crash Twinsanity'', under the
Vivendi
Vivendi SE (stylized in all lowercase) is a French investment company headquartered in Paris. It currently wholly-owns Gameloft as well as a number of investments in several companies, primarily involved in content, entertainment, media, and t ...
label.
They developed ''
Lego Star Wars: The Video Game'' as well as its follow-ups. Outside of the Lego games, their work includes the franchise ''
Crash Bandicoot
''Crash Bandicoot'' is a video game franchise originally developed by Naughty Dog as an exclusive for Sony's PlayStation console. It has seen numerous installments created by various developers and published on multiple platforms. The series c ...
'', ''
The Chronicles of Narnia
''The Chronicles of Narnia'' is a series of seven portal fantasy novels by British author C. S. Lewis. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes and originally published between 1950 and 1956, the series is set in the fictional realm of Narnia (wor ...
'', ''
Super Monkey Ball Adventure'', and ''
World Rally Championship
The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is an international rallying series owned and governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA. Inaugurated in 1973, it is the oldest FIA world championship after Formula One. E ...
'' and ''
F1 Grand Prix'' for the
PlayStation Portable
The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PA ...
.
Warner Bros. acquisition and Lego titles (2007–present)
The company was purchased by
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Warner Bros. Games (formerly Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment) is an American video game publisher based in Burbank, California. The publisher was founded as a division of Warner Bros. on January 14, 2004, as well as the WB Games brand. ...
at the end of 8 November 2007, but continued to operate independently. Following the release of ''
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian'' (2008), Traveller's Tales would work exclusively on Lego titles – though other TT subsidiaries such as TT Fusion continued to use other intellectual property until the early 2010s. While some of the early Lego titles would be published by
LucasArts
Lucasfilm Games (known as LucasArts between 1990 and 2021) is an American video game brand licensing, licensor, former video game developer and video game publisher, publisher, and a subsidiary of Lucasfilm. It was founded in May 1982 by George ...
, from 2011 Warner would also act as the studio's exclusive publisher.
In 2015, Traveller's Tales entered the
toys-to-life
Toys-to-life is a video game feature using physical figurines or action figures to interact within the game. There are several technologies used to make physical figurines appear in game such as image recognition, quick response (QR) codes, Blue ...
business with ''
Lego Dimensions'', which used a toy pad to enter physical
Lego minifigures
A Lego minifigure, often simply referred to as a Lego figure or a minifig, is a small plastic articulated figurine made of special Lego bricks produced by Danish building toy manufacturer The Lego Group. They were first produced in 1978 and ha ...
and Lego models into the game, as well as interact with gameplay. The game included existing Lego themes like
DC Comics
DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...
, ''
The Lego Movie
''The Lego Movie'' is a 2014 animated adventure comedy film written and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Based on the Lego line of construction toys, the film stars the voices of Chris Pratt, Will Ferrell, Elizabeth Banks, Will ...
'' and ''
The Lord of the Rings
''The Lord of the Rings'' is an Epic (genre), epic high fantasy novel written by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book ''The Hobbit'' but eventually d ...
'', as well as new properties such as ''
Portal 2
''Portal 2'' is a 2011 puzzle-platform game developed by Valve for Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. The digital PC versions are distributed online by Valve's Steam service, while all retail editions are distributed by Elect ...
'' and ''
Wizard of Oz''. The game was discontinued in October 2017.
Traveller's Tales has won two
BAFTA
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...
s, one for Gameplay with ''
Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy'', and one for Children's Videogame of the Year for ''
Lego Batman: The Videogame''.
On 20 January 2022, a report published by
''Polygon'' detailed the amount of
crunch that occurred at the studio 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 Traveller's Tales' 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 video game '' Unreal''. Initially developed for PC first-person shooters, it has since been used in a variety of ...
or
Unity) was controversial within the company, as many employees had been pushing to instead use Unreal Engine. NTT turned out to be 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 Traveller's Tales to use NTT, with the company deciding to use Unreal Engine going forward for their future projects.
Games developed
References
External links
*
{{Crash Bandicoot
1989 establishments in England
2005 mergers and acquisitions
British companies established in 1989
British subsidiaries of foreign companies
Companies based in Cheshire
Knutsford
Video game companies established in 1989
Video game companies of the United Kingdom
Video game development companies
Warner Bros. Games