Razorworks was a

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

Kidlington Kidlington is a village and civil parish in the Cherwell district of Oxfordshire, England. It is in-between the River Cherwell and Oxford Canal, north of Oxford and south-west of Bicester. It had a population of 13,600 at the 2021 Census. ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Razorworks, established in 1996, became an internal development studio for Empire Interactive Europe Limited after its acquisition in November 2000. In June 2008, Empire Interactive announced plans to sell or close the studio, which at the time had a new

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...

game in pre-production. The studio was closed in July 2008 due to Empire Interactive's poor financial situation (Empire Interactive subsequently went into administration in May 2009). The following month,

Rebellion Developments Rebellion Developments Limited is a British video game developer based in Oxford. Founded by Jason Kingsley (businessman), Jason and Chris Kingsley in December 1992, the company is best known for ''Sniper Elite'' and multiple games in the ''Lis ...

acquired Razorworks, integrating its 30-member team into Rebellion's Oxford facility. During its 12-year lifetime the team grew from 4 to 34 people and produced a total of 14 titles for PC and games consoles. Razorworks initially developed the '' Enemy Engaged'' series of combat flight simulators which were nominated for several Simulation Game of the Year awards. Razorworks subsequently developed a number of titles for Empire Interactive's ''Ford Racing'' series, including '' Ford Racing Full Blown'', a coin-op video game developed for Sega Amusements of Europe. Razorworks also developed arcade machine emulation technology used to produce the '' Taito Legends'' titles and ''

Double Dragon is a beat 'em up video game series originally developed and published by Technōs Japan. It began with the release of the arcade game '' Double Dragon'' in 1987. The series features twin martial artists, Billy and Jimmy Lee, as they fight again ...

'' for Xbox Live Arcade. Razorworks' final project was a

remake A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same s ...

of Empire Interactive's classic puzzle game ''

Pipe Mania ''Pipe Mania'' is a puzzle video game developed by The Assembly Line for the Amiga and published in 1989. It was ported to several other platforms by Lucasfilm Games as ''Pipe Dream''; the company distributed the game in the US. The player must c ...

''. Razorworks developed games for PC,

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...

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 ...

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the Xbox (console), original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detail ...

Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...

and Sega arcade cabinets.

Games

Razorworks is credited on 15 Games from 1998 to 2008: *'' Enemy Engaged: Apache vs Havoc'' (1998 on Windows) *'' Enemy Engaged: RAH-66 Comanche vs. KA-52 Hokum'' (2000 on Windows, Macintosh) *'' Total Immersion Racing'' (2002 on Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox...) *''

Ford Racing 2 ''Ford Racing 2'' is a 2003 racing video game developed by Razorworks and published by Empire Interactive and Gotham Games. The game was released for Windows, Macintosh, PlayStation 2 (PS2), and Xbox. It is the sequel to '' Ford Racing'' (2000) ...

'' (2003 on Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox...) *''

Ford Racing 3 ''Ford Racing 3'' is a racing video game published by Empire Interactive, 2K (company), 2K, and ZOO Digital. It is the third game in the Ford Racing (series), ''Ford Racing'' series, and was released in Europe in October 2004, for Microsoft Window ...

'' (2004 on Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox) *'' Taito Legends'' (2005 on Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox) *'' Ford Racing Full Blown'' (2006 on Arcade) *''

Taito Legends 2 ''Taito Legends 2'' a compilation of Taito arcade video games and the follow-up to ''Taito Legends''. It was published for Xbox (console), Xbox, PlayStation 2, and Microsoft Windows. As with the former collection, it is derived from the Japan exc ...

'' (2005 on Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox) *'' Ford Street Racing'' (2006 on Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox...) *Ford Street Racing: XR Edition (2007 on PSP, PlayStation 2) *''

'' (2007 on DOS, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance...) *'' Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe'' (1990 on DOS, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance...) *'' Ford Racing Off Road'' (2008 on Windows, PlayStation 2, PSP...) *''

'' (2008 on Windows, PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS...) *''Hello Kitty: Big City Dreams'' (2008 on Nintendo DS)

References

External links

* (archived) {{Authority control Companies based in Oxfordshire Defunct companies of England Defunct video game companies of the United Kingdom Kidlington Video game companies established in 1996 Video game companies disestablished in 2008 Video game development companies