Foundation 9 Entertainment, Inc. was an American

video game company The video game industry encompasses the development, marketing, and monetization of video games. The industry encompasses dozens of job disciplines and thousands of jobs worldwide. The video game industry has grown from niches to mainstream ...

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 ...

. The company was formed in March 2005 through the merger of video game developers Backbone Entertainment and The Collective.

History

Foundation 9 Entertainment was founded on March 29, 2005, in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

, through the merger of video game developer Backbone Entertainment and The Collective. The company's initial management board consisted of Jon Goldman (

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

), Andrew Ayre and Douglas Hare (co- presidents), Gary Priest and Mark Loughridge (co- chairmen), Richard Hare (

chief creative officer A chief creative officer (CCO) is the highest ranking position of the creative team within a company. Depending on the type of company, this position may be responsible for the overall look and feel of marketing, media, and branding associated wit ...

), Jeff Vavasour (

vice-president A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...

of Canadian operations), Steven Sardegna (

chief financial officer The chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and fina ...

), and Larry Kelly (

chief operating officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the " C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if ...

). Shortly after the merger, on April 12, Foundation 9 acquired and integrated

Pipeworks Software Pipeworks Studios is an American video game developer based in Eugene, Oregon. The company was founded in November 1999 by Dan White and Dan Duncalf and works to provide full development, co-development, and live operations to video game publis ...

. Subsequently, Dan Duncalf, the company's president and co-founder, joined Foundation 9's

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit orga ...

. In May, Foundation 9 acquired an equity stake in Circle of Confusion, a

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

management company, to establish a

strategic partnership A strategic partnership (also see strategic alliance) is a relationship between two commercial enterprises, usually formalized by one or more business contracts. A strategic partnership will usually fall short of a legal partnership entity, agency, ...

. On June 1, 2006, investment firm Francisco Partners (as advised by

UBS Securities UBS Group AG is a multinational investment bank and financial services company founded and based in Switzerland. Co-headquartered in the cities of Zürich and Basel, it maintains a presence in all major financial centres as the largest Swis ...

) agreed to provide in funding to Foundation 9 over a time frame of several years, with additional funding to be provided when needed. The investment was followed by the acquisitions of

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 ...

from

Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc., founded in Sunnyvale, Ca ...

in October 2006, Amaze Entertainment and related studios in November 2006, and Sumo Digital and its Indian sub-studio in August 2007. Under the terms of Shiny's acquisition, the studio would co-locate and merge with The Collective. The merger was formally announced in October 2007, at which point both studios had moved to new offices in

. The amalgam was named

Double Helix Games Double Helix Games was an American video game developer based in Irvine, California, founded in October 2007 through the merger of The Collective and Shiny Entertainment, two studios owned by Foundation 9 Entertainment. Double Helix was acquir ...

in March 2008. In January 2008, Foundation 9 promoted David Mann (previously

), Chris Charla and Jack Brummet to president, vice-president of

business development Business development entails tasks and processes to develop and implement growth opportunities within and between organizations. It is a subset of the fields of business, commerce and organizational theory. Business development is the creation of l ...

, and vice-president of

quality assurance Quality assurance (QA) is the term used in both manufacturing and service industries to describe the systematic efforts taken to ensure that the product(s) delivered to customer(s) meet with the contractual and other agreed upon performance, design ...

, respectively, followed by James North-Hearn, one of Sumo Digital's founders, becoming the chief executive officer of the company in March. In July 2008, Foundation 9 reinstated

Griptonite Games Glu Mobile LLC is an American developer and publisher of video games for mobile phones and tablet computers. Founded in San Francisco, California, in 2004, Glu offers products to multiple platforms including Java ME-based devices, Android, Wind ...

and Fizz Factor, two studios absorbed into Amaze in 2005, under their original brandings. However, in July 2009, Fizz Factor was closed down entirely, while Amaze was merged into Griptonite and Double Helix suffered staff cuts. FXLabs, based in

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern Indi ...

, India, was acquired by Foundation 9 in October 2010 and became part of Griptonite under the name Griptonite India. Griptonite was sold to

Glu Mobile Glu Mobile LLC is an American developer and publisher of video games for mobile phones and tablet computers. Founded in San Francisco, California, in 2004, Glu offers products to multiple platforms including Java ME-based devices, Android, Wind ...

in August 2011 in exchange for 6 million shares of Glu's

common stock Common stock is a form of corporate equity ownership, a type of security. The terms voting share and ordinary share are also used frequently outside of the United States. They are known as equity shares or ordinary shares in the UK and other Comm ...

. Backbone's location in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...

had been closed in May 2009, and in October 2012, its ImaginEngine studio was closed as well, while its primary location in

Emeryville, California Emeryville is a city located in northwest Alameda County, California, in the United States. It lies in a corridor between the cities of Berkeley and Oakland, with a border on the shore of San Francisco Bay. The resident population was 12,905 ...

, laid off the majority of its staff. In February 2014, Double Helix was sold to

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 ...

. Later that year, under advisory from GP Bullhound, Foundation 9 sold Pipeworks to Italian publisher

Digital Bros Digital Bros is an Italian video game company that develops, publishes and distributes games. It publishes games under its 505 Games subsidiary brand since 2007 and established video game development school, ''Digital Bros Game Academy'', in 2 ...

, and Sumo Digital to its own management, the latter of which was backed by NorthEdge Capital. In 2015, Foundation 9's board of directors elected to dissolve the company.

Subsidiaries

* Amaze Entertainment (2007–2009) – Merged into Griptonite Games * Backbone Entertainment (2005–2015) – Closed ** Backbone Charlottetown (2006–2007) – Closed ** Backbone Emeryville (2005–2015) – Closed ** Backbone Vancouver (2005–2009) – Closed ** Games2Learn – Closed ** ImaginEngine (2005–2012) – Closed * The Collective (2005–2007) – Merged into

(2007–2014) – Sold to

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 ...

* Fizz Factor (2008–2009) – Closed * Griptonite Games (2008–2011) – Sold to

** Griptonite India (2010–2011) – Sold to

(2005–2014) – Sold to

(2006–2007) – Merged into

* Sumo Digital (2007–2014) – Sold back to founders in a

management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management-, and/or leveraged buyout became noted phenomena o ...

** Sumo India (2007–2014) – Sold back to founders in a

References

{{Reflist 2005 establishments in California 2015 disestablishments in California American companies disestablished in 2015 American companies established in 2005 Defunct companies based in Greater Los Angeles Defunct video game companies of the United States Video game companies disestablished in 2015 Video game companies established in 2005 Video game development companies