United Front Games, Inc. was a Canadian

video game development Video game development (or gamedev) is the process of developing a video game. The effort is undertaken by a developer, ranging from a single person to an international team dispersed across the globe. Development of traditional commercial PC ...

studio based in Vancouver. They created titles for the

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, and

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. They are the developers of ''

ModNation Racers ''ModNation Racers'' is a 2010 go-kart racing video game developed by United Front Games and San Diego Studio for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable. User generated content is a central aspect of the game, such that it uses the same "Pl ...

'' and the critical and commercial success '' Sleeping Dogs'' in addition to collaborating with other studios on projects like ''Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition'' (

Crystal Dynamics Crystal Dynamics, Inc. is an American video game developer based in San Mateo, California and part of Embracer Group. The studio developed the '' Gex'', ''Legacy of Kain'', and ''Tomb Raider'' series. Founded in 1992 by Madeline Canepa, Judy L ...

) and '' Halo: The Master Chief Collection'' (

343 Industries 343 Industries is an American video game developer located in Redmond, Washington, part of Xbox Game Studios. Headed by Pierre Hintze, the studio is responsible for the ''Halo (franchise), Halo'' series of military science fiction games, origin ...

). Created in 2007, the studio consisted of former members of EA Black Box,

Rockstar Vancouver Rockstar Vancouver Inc. (formerly Barking Dog Studios Ltd.) was a Canadian video game developer and a studio of Rockstar Games based in Vancouver. The studio is best known for developing ''Bully'' (2006). Six former Radical Entertainment deve ...

Radical Entertainment Radical Entertainment Inc. is a Canadian video game developer based in Vancouver. The studio is best known for developing '' The Simpsons: Hit & Run'', '' Prototype'' and ''Prototype 2'', as well as entries in the ''Crash Bandicoot'' franchise ...

and Volition, all of which made

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s with an open world setting. In 2016, United Front Games officially closed down.

History

United Front Games was founded in 2007. Its first official title was ''

'', a

user-generated content User-generated content (UGC), alternatively known as user-created content (UCC), is any form of content, such as images, videos, text, testimonials, and audio, that has been posted by users on online platforms such as social media, discussion f ...

kart racing game, which began production in 2008 and was released in May 2010. In August 2012, they released '' Sleeping Dogs'' (previously known as ''True Crime: Hong Kong''). While it is widely believed that ''Sleeping Dogs'' was originally conceived as a title in the ''True Crime'' series, it was in fact built from the ground up as an original

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

. United Front Games also made '' LittleBigPlanet Karting'' with help from the series creators Media Molecule. United Front Games also worked on the

version of '' Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition''. In early 2013, United Front began production on a sequel to ''Sleeping Dogs''. Plans for the sequel were eventually scrapped in late 2013 before the project even went into production. In October 2014, United Front released '' Sleeping Dogs'' for the

and

called ''Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition''. In September 2014, United Front Games announced '' Triad Wars'', an online open world

action-adventure game The action-adventure genre is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Typically, pure adventure games have situational problems for the player to solve to complete a story ...

. Originally targeted for an early 2015 release on PC, ''Triad Wars'' was game set in the ''Sleeping Dogs'' Hong Kong universe. However, in December 2015 United Front announced the January 2016 closure of the ''Triad Wars''

open beta A software release life cycle is the sum of the stages of development and maturity for a piece of computer software ranging from its initial development to its eventual release, and including updated versions of the released version to help impro ...

. In collaboration with

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, ...

' owned developer,

, United Front Games developed the '' Halo: The Master Chief Collection'' compilation, published in November 2014. On October 17, 2016, United Front Games announced closure even though their newest game ''Smash+Grab'', an online multiplayer brawler, had only been out for less than a month on

Steam Early Access Early access, also known as alpha access, alpha founding, paid alpha, or game preview, is a funding model in the video game industry by which consumers can purchase and play a game in the various pre-release development cycles, such as pre-alph ...

. No further details were given by the studio regarding its closure.

Games developed

References

External links

* {{Authority control Video game development companies Defunct companies of British Columbia Companies based in Vancouver Canadian companies established in 2007 Video game companies established in 2007 Video game companies disestablished in 2016 Defunct video game companies of Canada 2007 establishments in British Columbia 2016 disestablishments in British Columbia