Big Fish Games, Inc. is a

casual game A casual game is a video game targeted at a mass market audience, as opposed to a hardcore game, which is targeted at hobbyist gamers. Casual games may exhibit any type of gameplay and genre. They generally involve simpler rules, shorter sessio ...

company based in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

with a regional office in

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

, owned by Aristocrat Leisure. It is a developer and distributor of casual games for

computers A computer is a machine that can be programmed to automatically carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations ('' computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as ''programs'', ...

and

mobile devices A mobile device or handheld device is a computer small enough to hold and operate in hand. Mobile devices are typically battery-powered and possess a flat-panel display and one or more built-in input devices, such as a touchscreen or keypad. Mod ...

. In 2016, the company was accused of knowingly deceiving customers into signing up for monthly purchases without informed consent. It was also the subject of a

class action A class action is a form of lawsuit. Class Action may also refer to: * ''Class Action'' (film), 1991, starring Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio * Class Action (band), a garage house band * "Class Action" (''Teenage Robot''), a 2002 e ...

lawsuit over its app ''Big Fish Casino'', resulting in a settlement of $155 million after a federal appeals court ruled that it constituted illegal

online gambling Online gambling (also known as iGaming or iGambling) is any kind of gambling conducted on the internet. This includes virtual poker, casinos, and sports betting. The first online gambling venue opened to the general public was ticketing for th ...

History

The company was founded in 2002. In 2009, it announced the opening of its European headquarters in Cork, Ireland. In July 2010, the company passed one billion game downloads from its online portal. In August 2013, Big Fish announced the closing of its cloud-based games service,

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

studio and Cork offices. In 2014, the company was acquired by Churchill Downs Inc. in a deal valued at up to $885 million. In 2018, Churchill Downs sold Big Fish to Australian gambling machine manufacturer Aristocrat Leisure for $990 million. In September 2018, Big Fish cut 15% of its workforce, and in September 2020, it cut nearly 50% of its workforce.

Big Fish Studios

Big Fish Games has studios split between the Seattle office and Oakland office which develop games: Self Aware Games, Triton Studios, Epic Ventures and ARC Studios. Games developed by the various Big Fish studios include: * ''Drawn'' series: ''Dark Flight'', ''The Painted Tower'', ''Trail of Shadows'' *'' Fairway Solitaire HD'' *'' Hidden Expedition'' series *'' Mystery Case Files'' series *'' Faunasphere''

Online games

The company entered

browser gaming A browser game is a video game that is played on the internet using a web browser. They are sometimes referred to more specifically by their format, such as Flash games or HTML5 games. They are generally free-to-play and can be either single-pl ...

with its acquisition of the game website Ion Thunder in 2007; the service was re-branded as Atlantis after the acquisition. The service which was revamped as Big Sea Games in 2009, was shut down in 2010 as part of the company's shift from traditional online games to social games on

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

and other

mobile app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a smartphone, phone, tablet computer, tablet, or smartwatch, watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop appli ...

References

External links

* {{Coord, 47.620941, N, 122.361906, W, display=title 2002 establishments in Washington (state) American companies established in 2002 Casual games Software companies based in Seattle Mobile game companies Video game companies established in 2002 Video game companies of the United States Video game development companies 2014 mergers and acquisitions 2018 mergers and acquisitions American subsidiaries of foreign companies