Supermassive Games

Supermassive Games is a British video game developer based in Guildford, Surrey. The studio is best known for developing horror games such as Until Dawn for the PlayStation 4, The Dark Pictures Anthology for Bandai Namco Entertainment and The Quarry for 2K Games.

Supermassive Games
TypePrivate
IndustryVideo games
Founded2008 (2008)
FounderPete Samuels
HeadquartersGuildford, Surrey, England
ProductsUntil Dawn
The Dark Pictures Anthology
OwnerNordisk Film (30.7%)
Number of employees
200[1]
WebsiteSupermassive Games

History

Supermassive Games was founded by Pete Samuels in 2008, who have previously worked at Psygnosis and Electronic Arts. The company signed a contract to serve as Sony's second-party developer. The studio first worked on downloadable content for Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet, and games utilizing the PlayStation Move motion controller including Sackboy's Prehistoric Moves and Start the Party!.[2] The strategy was a success initially, as the studio posted full-year sales of £5.7 million in 2011.[3] In 2012, the studio partnered with BBC and released Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock. It was intended to be the first game of a trilogy, but the game was poorly received. BBC then announced the decision to cancel all other games in the trilogy in the following year. Another partnership game with BBC, Wonderbook: Walking with Dinosaurs, was released in 2013.[4]

The studio's breakout title, Until Dawn, was also initially envisioned as a PlayStation Move title, though all motion controls were dropped when it was retooled into a PlayStation 4 game.[5] Until Dawn was a survival horror interactive movie inspired by slasher films, and it became an unexpected success for Sony when it was released in 2015.[6] With the success of Until Dawn, the studio continued to expand the Until Dawn universe, releasing spin-off titles including Until Dawn: Rush of Blood and The Inpatient for PlayStation VR, Sony's virtual reality headset.[7] The studio also released the critically panned Bravo Team for PSVR. Supermassive initially wanted it to be "the game which defines shooters on VR", but it faced various development challenges throughout its development cycle.[8]

Supermassive then returned to the horror genre when it partnered with publisher Bandai Namco Entertainment to create an anthology series called The Dark Pictures Anthology; the first game in the series is called The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan, which was released in August 2019. Unlike Supermassive's previous titles, which all but two were available exclusively on Sony platforms, all games in the Dark Pictures series will also be available on Microsoft platforms including Windows and Xbox One.[9] Supermassive plans on releasing a new entry in The Dark Pictures Anthology every 6 months, with a total of 8 games in the series, though more could be added if the series succeeds in sales.[10] Man of Medan was followed by Little Hope (2020), and House of Ashes (2021).

In March 2021, Nordisk Film, under their Nordisk Games division, purchased a 30.7% stake in the studio.[11]

Games developed
Year(s)GamePlatform(s)
2009–2010LittleBigPlanet (DLC)[12]PlayStation 3
2010Tumble[13]
Start the Party!
Sackboy's Prehistoric Moves[12]
2011Start the Party! Save the World
2011–2012LittleBigPlanet 2 (DLC)[12]
2012Doctor Who: The Eternity ClockMicrosoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita
Killzone HDPlayStation 3
2013LittleBigPlanet PS Vita (DLC)PlayStation Vita
Walking with DinosaursPlayStation 3
2015Until Dawn[14]PlayStation 4
2016Until Dawn: Rush of Blood[15][16]PlayStation VR
Tumble VR[17]
2017Hidden AgendaPlayStation 4
2018The InpatientPlayStation VR
Bravo Team
Shattered State[18]Google Daydream
2019The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of MedanMicrosoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
2020The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope
2021Little Nightmares II: Enhanced EditionMicrosoft Windows, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S
The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes[19]Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
2022 The Quarry[20]
The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me

References
  1. "Supermassive Games - About".
  2. Treese, Tyler (11 August 2015). "Until Dawn Developer and Their Supermassive History With Sony". PlayStation LifeStyle. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
  3. Loizou, Kiki (9 December 2012). "How I Made It: Pete Samuels, founder of Supermassive Games". The Times. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
  4. Ray Corriea, Alexa (11 July 2013). "Supermassive Games still working on Until Dawn, no more Doctor Who games". Polygon. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
  5. McCaffery, Ryan (13 August 2014). "Until Dawn Rebooted For PS4, and It's Terrifying". IGN. Archived from the original on 21 November 2018. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  6. Nunneley, Stephany (30 September 2015). "Sony was surprised by the "positive reaction" to sleeper hit Until Dawn". VG 247. Archived from the original on 1 May 2019. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
  7. "Doctor Who, Until Dawn, virtual reality: the transformation of Supermassive Games". MCVUK. 10 June 2016. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
  8. Phillips, Tom (27 March 2018). "What went wrong with PSVR exclusive Bravo Team, the "Halo of VR shooters"". Eurogamer. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
  9. O'Brien, Lucy (21 August 2018). "Supermassive Games Announces Horror Series The Dark Pictures Anthology - Gamescom 2018". IGN. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  10. Hargreaves, Jim (22 August 2019). "Expect two games from The Dark Pictures Anthology per year". The Sixth Axis. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  11. "Nordisk Games acquires 30% stake in Supermassive". gamesindustry.biz.
  12. "LittleBigPlanet 2 - Level Kits". Supermassive Games. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
  13. "Supermassive Games To Utilize Gamebryo Engine". IGN. 30 March 2011. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
  14. Phillips, Tom (26 May 2015). "PS4 exclusive Until Dawn finally has a release date". Eurogamer. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
  15. Martin, Matt (27 October 2015). "Until Dawn: Rush of Blood is a "fast-paced arcade shooter" for PlayStation VR". VG247. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
  16. Robinson, Dave (28 June 2016). "PlayStation VR, Day One Guide – Crash Landed". Crash Landed. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
  17. Harris, Simon (15 March 2016). "Tumble VR Revealed for PlayStation VR". Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  18. "Supermassive Games - Shattered State - Supermassive Games". Supermassive Games. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  19. LeBlanc, Wesley (9 November 2020). "The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes Is a Horror Game Set in the Iraq War". IGN. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
  20. Marshall, Cas (17 March 2022). "The Quarry is Supermassive's next swing at Until Dawn-style horror". Polygon. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
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