Double Helix Games was an American

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 large ...

based in

Irvine, California Irvine () is a master-planned city in South Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the 1960s and the city was formally incorporated on December 28, 197 ...

, founded in October 2007 through the merger of The Collective and

Shiny Entertainment Shiny Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Laguna Beach, California. Founded in October 1993 by David Perry, Shiny was the creator of video games such as ''Earthworm Jim'', ''MDK'' and '' Enter the Matrix''. Perr ...

, two studios owned by

Foundation 9 Entertainment Foundation 9 Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game company based in Irvine, California. The company was formed in March 2005 through the merger of video game developers Backbone Entertainment and The Collective. History Foundation ...

. Double Helix was acquired by

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

and integrated into

Amazon Game Studios Amazon Games (formerly Amazon Game Studios) is an American video game company and division of the online retailing company Amazon that primarily focuses on publishing video games developed within the company's development divisions. History ...

in February 2014.

History

Double Helix Games was formed as the result of a merger between The Collective and

, two

s owned by

. Shiny had been acquired by Foundation 9 in October 2006 under the terms that it would co-locate with the already owned The Collective. On October 9, 2007, it was announced that both studios had relocated to new offices in

, and were being merged, expected to not result in any job losses. The amalgam, led by Michael Persson, received the name "Double Helix Games" in March 2008. In July 2009, as part of a round of consolidations within Foundation 9, Double Helix suffered an undisclosed number of staff cuts. On February 5, 2014, Double Helix announced that it had been acquired by retailing company

. The studio was integrated into the Irvine location of the retailer's

division, which had been established in 2012.

Microsoft Studios Xbox Game Studios (previously known as Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Game Studios, and Microsoft Games) is an American video game publisher and part of the Microsoft Gaming division based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, ...

, the publisher of Double Helix's ''

Killer Instinct ''Killer Instinct'' is a series of fighting video games originally created by Rare and published by Midway, Nintendo, and Microsoft Studios. The original ''Killer Instinct'' was released for arcades in 1994; the game was then released for ...

'', stated that it would be working with a new development partner to continue development on the game.

Games developed

Canceled

* ''Harker'' (2008)

References

{{Amazon 2007 establishments in California 2014 disestablishments in California 2014 mergers and acquisitions Amazon (company) acquisitions American companies disestablished in 2014 American companies established in 2007 Companies based in Irvine, California Defunct companies based in Greater Los Angeles Defunct video game companies of the United States Technology companies based in Greater Los Angeles Video game companies based in California Video game companies disestablished in 2014 Video game companies established in 2007 Video game development companies