Budcat Creations, LLC was an American

video game developer A video game developer is 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 business with em ...

based in

Iowa City, Iowa Iowa City is the largest city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. At the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the population was 74,828, making it the state's List of cities in Iowa, fifth-most populous c ...

, and was a wholly owned subsidiary of

Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...

, though they formerly had partnerships with

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple Inc., Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry ...

and Majesco Entertainment. They were largely responsible for porting titles to non-target consoles. They had worked on a number of blockbuster gaming franchises, among them ''

Guitar Hero ''Guitar Hero'' is a series of rhythm games first released in 2005, in which players use a guitar-shaped game controller to simulate playing primarily lead guitar, lead, bass guitar, bass, and rhythm guitar across numerous songs. Players match ...

'', '' Madden NFL'', and ''

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, military decoration and is awarded to recognize American United States Army, soldiers, United States Navy, sailors, Un ...

''. They also produced a few original titles, including '' Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy'' and '' The New York Times Crosswords''.

History

Budcat was founded by Jason Andersen and Jonah Stich, who met on the precursor to AOL, via a shared interest in the

Apple IIGS The Apple IIGS (styled as II) is a 16-bit personal computer produced by Apple Inc., Apple Computer beginning in September 1986. It is the fifth and most powerful model of the Apple II family. The "GS" in the name stands for "Graphics and Sound" ...

. A few months into the company's initial year, Isaac Burns joined as a partner. Isaac and Jason met in high school, in their hometown of Iowa City, Iowa. The company went on to produce a string of sports titles for EA over the next five years, including entries in the ''NASCAR Thunder'', ''NHL Hockey'', and ''FIFA Manager'' series, as well as the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...

version of ''

Psychonauts ''Psychonauts'' is a 2005 platformer, platform game developed by Double Fine Productions and published by Majesco Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, Xbox (console), Xbox and PlayStation 2. Set in a Retrofuturism, retro-futuristic version of t ...

'' for Majesco Entertainment. In 2005, Budcat moved to its ultimate location in Iowa City in order to facilitate expanding their offices. Budcat worked in partnership with Majesco Entertainment,

, and

on multiple titles before being purchased by

Activision Blizzard Activision Blizzard, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in Santa Monica, California. Activision Blizzard currently includes three operating units: Activision, Blizzard Entertainment and King (company), King. Founded in July 2 ...

on November 10, 2008, where they mostly worked on the ''

'' brand. Budcat Creations was shuttered by Activision Blizzard on November 16, 2010.

Games

References

External links

* {{Authority control Defunct video game companies of the United States Video game development companies Video game companies established in 2000 Video game companies disestablished in 2010 Defunct companies based in Iowa Former Vivendi subsidiaries Defunct Activision subsidiaries 2000 establishments in Iowa 2010 disestablishments in Iowa