Underground Development, Ltd. (formerly Z-Axis, Ltd.) was an American

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 ...

based in

Foster City, California Foster City is a master-planned city located in San Mateo County, California, United States. Foster City is sometimes considered to be part of Silicon Valley for its local industry and its proximity to Silicon Valley cities. There are many n ...

. It 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 o ...

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 San Mateo ( ) is the most populous city in San Mateo County, California, United States, on the San Francisco Peninsula. It is part of the San Francisco Bay Area metropolitan region, and is located about south of San Francisco. San Mateo border ...

. 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 Hayward is a city located in Alameda County, California, United States, in the East Bay subregion of the San Francisco Bay Area. With a population of 162,954 as of 2020, Hayward is the sixth largest city in the Bay Area, and the third largest in ...

. 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