Swordfish Studios Limited was a British

video game developer A video game developer is a broad term for 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 larg ...

based in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

founded by Trevor Williams and Joan Finnegan (wife of Paul Finnegan, former managing director of

Rage Software Limited Rage Games (formerly Rage Software) was a British video game developer. Formed in Liverpool in 1992, its video games were marked by an emphasis on graphical effects with arcade gameplay. Rage's first title ''Striker'' sold more than one mil ...

) in September 2002. Games developed by the company include two best selling International Rugby titles, including ''

World Championship Rugby ''World Championship Rugby'' is a computer and video game developed after the 2003 Rugby World Cup. It was developed by Swordfish Studios and published by Acclaim Entertainment. As well as all the teams and games from the 2003 Rugby World Cup, ...

''. Others include '' Brian Lara International Cricket 2005'' and '' Cold Winter''. In 2004, Swordfish Studios was named 'Developer of the Year' by

The Independent Games Developers Association The Independent Game Developers' Association (TIGA) is a trade association representing the business and commercial interests of some video and computer game developers in the UK and Europe. History TIGA was launched in 2001 by Patricia Hewitt ...

. Swordfish Studios was acquired by

Vivendi Universal Games Vivendi Games was an American video game publisher and holding company based in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1996 as CUC Software, the publishing subsidiary of CUC International, after the latter acquired video game companies Davidson & Associ ...

in June 2005, becoming a fully owned studio of

Sierra Entertainment Sierra Entertainment, Inc. (formerly On-Line Systems and Sierra On-Line, Inc.) was an American video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher founded in 1979 by Ken Williams (game developer), Ken and Roberta Williams. The company is k ...

. On 12 November 2008, Swordfish's Manchester studio was sold to Monumental Games. Swordfish's Birmingham studio was acquired by

Codemasters The Codemasters Software Company Limited (trade name: Codemasters) is a British video game developer based in Southam, England, which is a subsidiary of American corporation Electronic Arts. Founded by brothers Richard and David Darling in Octo ...

on 15 November 2008 after an agreement with

Activision Blizzard Activision Blizzard, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in Santa Monica, California. It was founded in July 2008 through the merger of Activision, Inc. (the publicly traded parent company of Activision Publishing) and Vivendi ...

. It is now known as Codemasters Birmingham. The studio closed down in 2010. Many of the former Swordfish Studios employees have been hired by

Crytek UK Free Radical Design Ltd. is a British video game developer based in Nottingham. Founded by David Doak, Steve Ellis, Karl Hilton and Graeme Norgate in Stoke-on-Trent in April 1999, they are best known for their ''TimeSplitters'' series of games ...

Games developed

References

External links

Former Activision subsidiaries Sierra Entertainment Codemasters Video game companies established in 2002 Video game companies disestablished in 2010 Defunct companies based in Birmingham, West Midlands Defunct video game companies of the United Kingdom Video game development companies 2002 establishments in England 2010 disestablishments in England {{UK-videogame-company-stub

Games developed

See also

References

External links