Blitz Games 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 large ...

based in

Leamington Spa Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply Leamington (), is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Priors, it grew into a spa town in the 18th century following ...

. Founded in 1990 by the Oliver Twins, who ran the company until its closure in 2013, it is best known for producing games such as '' The Fairly OddParents'', '' Bratz'', '' SpongeBob SquarePants'', '' The Biggest Loser'', and '' Karaoke Revolution''.

Divisions

Blitz Games

Blitz Games created the games that the company first became well known for: family titles, often licensed on popular characters and existing intellectual property.

Blitz Arcade

''Blitz Arcade'' was founded in 2006 with a team of 35 people. It was focused on developing downloadable titles of a small scope. Its first release was an advergame series created for the US

Burger King Burger King (BK) is an American-based multinational chain store, chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida–based res ...

chain. After that, Blitz Arcade turned its focus to downloadable titles and had success with its first game of this type: '' SpongeBob SquarePants: Underpants Slam''. They also developed shooter ''

PowerUp Forever ''PowerUp Forever''Was mistakenly announced as ''Infinitum'' in the original press release. is a downloadable multi-directional shooter developed by Blitz Arcade and published by Namco Bandai for the Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStati ...

'', puzzler ''

Droplitz ''Droplitz'' is a 2009 puzzle video game developed by Blitz Arcade and published by Atlus USA. It was released for Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, Microsoft Windows and iOS in June 2009 In May 2012 a sequel called ''Droplitz Delight'' was ...

'' and the

3DTV 3D television (3DTV) is television that conveys depth perception to the viewer by employing techniques such as stereoscopic display, multi-view display, 2D-plus-depth, or any other form of 3D display. Most modern 3D television sets use an a ...

-compatible beat 'em up '' Invincible Tiger: The Legend of Han Tao''.

Volatile Games

Volatile Games was responsible for the company's mature games. The division dates from 2006. The company and the division ended in 2013. Video games created by this division include '' Reservoir Dogs'', runner-up in the 2006 BAFTA awards for Best Soundtrack. Despite allowing the player to complete the game without firing a single shot, the game was considered so realistic in its depictions of violence that it was banned in Australia. They released '' Dead to Rights: Retribution'' on 27 April 2010. A proposed game, ''

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'', was cancelled.

TruSim

''TruSim'' was the serious games division. The idea was to bring commitment to training through video games. It is best known for its work on medical-related training programs including the award-winning Interactive Trauma Trainer.

BlitzTech

BlitzTech created and licensed the game development engine and toolchain.

Earlier divisions

Virtual Experience Company

Past projects include the Tintern Abbey virtual tour. The company was acquired by Blitz Games at the end of 2006 but was sold back to former owner Mike Gogan in May 2008.

Blitz 1UP

In 2008 Blitz Games Studios launched the Blitz1UP programme to help independent developers bring their games to market. The programme provided free help and advice on all aspects of game production as well as crowd sourced QA. The programme was closed in 2011 and was replaced by IndieCity, an online indie game marketplace.

Games

Games created or published by Interactive Studios/Blitz Games Studios include:

Awards

2007 * Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards 2007 - Favourite Videogame – SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab * Edge award for Training and Development of young people * ICT Excellence in Skills * Blitz Games wins Develop Industry Excellence Award for Business Development * Cannes Titanium Grand Prix Award for the Burger King games * Golden Clio Award for Burger King games 2006 * Blitz Games CEO Philip Oliver named Best Industry Player by TIGAbr>
* Warwickshire Employer of Choice Awards 2006 for creating an exceptional working environmen

Closure

On 12 September 2013, the company announced that it was closing after 23 years of business. The closure came as a result of the company struggling to raise money to support future development projects, with the demise of THQ, a major client, said by Philip Oliver to have hit the company particularly hard. The company is reported to have owed £2.2 million to staff and creditors. The Oliver brothers along with the former company's COO Richard Smithies almost immediately formed a new company,

Radiant Worlds Rebellion Warwick (formerly Radiant Worlds Limited) is a British video game developer based in Leamington Spa, England. It was founded in 2013 almost immediately after the closure of Blitz Games Studios. The former owners of that company, the Ol ...

, in the same town, and were reported to have recruited up to 50 former Blitz staff.

References

External links

Official website
* {{Blitz British companies established in 1990 Companies based in Leamington Spa Defunct companies of England Defunct video game companies of the United Kingdom Video game companies disestablished in 2013 Video game companies established in 1990 Video game development companies