Carbine Studios was a

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 larg ...

and subsidiary of NCSOFT, founded in 2005 by former members of Blizzard Entertainment. They were the developers of the

online role-playing game A role-playing video game (commonly referred to as simply a role-playing game or RPG, as well as a computer role-playing game or CRPG) is a video game genre where the player controls the actions of a character (or several party members) immers ...

'' WildStar''.

History

Carbine's founders were 17 former members of

Blizzard Entertainment Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and video game publisher, publisher based in Irvine, California. A subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, the company was founded on February 8, 1991, under the name Silicon & Synapse, ...

's ''

World of Warcraft ''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment. Set in the ''Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of Warcraft'' takes place within the world of Azeroth ...

'' development team. Since then they have employed key personnel from games such as ''

Diablo II ''Diablo II'' is an action role-playing hack-and-slash video game developed by Blizzard North and published by Blizzard Entertainment in 2000 for Microsoft Windows, Classic Mac OS, and macOS. The game, with its dark fantasy and horror themes, ...

'', ''

StarCraft ''StarCraft'' is a military science fiction media franchise created by Chris Metzen and James Phinney and owned by Blizzard Entertainment. The series, set in the beginning of the 26th century, centers on a galactic struggle for dominance am ...

'', ''

Metroid Prime ''Metroid Prime'' is an action-adventure video game developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. ''Metroid Prime'' is the fifth main installment in the ''Metroid'' franchise and the first game in the series to use 3D co ...

'', ''

Fallout Nuclear fallout is the residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, so called because it "falls out" of the sky after the explosion and the shock wave has passed. It commonly refers to the radioa ...

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EverQuest ''EverQuest'' is a 3D fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) originally developed by Verant Interactive and 989 Studios for Windows PCs. It was released by Sony Online Entertainment in March 1999 in North Ame ...

'', ''

City of Heroes ''City of Heroes'' (''CoH'') was a massively multiplayer online role-playing game which was developed by Cryptic Studios and published by NCSOFT. The game was launched in North America on April 28, 2004, and in Europe by NCsoft Europe on Febru ...

'', ''

Half-Life 2 ''Half-Life 2'' is a 2004 first-person shooter game developed by Valve. It was published by Valve through its distribution service Steam. Like the original ''Half-Life'' (1998), ''Half-Life 2'' combines shooting, puzzles, and storytelling, and a ...

'' and many from other titles. The company was acquired by NCSOFT in 2007. In March 2016, NCSOFT announced a reorganization and

Polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed '' polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two t ...

says more than 70 Carbine employees were laid off; this is about 40% of the studio. The studio will still focus on ''Wildstar'' development for its players, but the studio cancelled the planned Chinese version of the game. In April, 2017, job postings hiring for an unannounced title were added to the Carbine website. These mentioned use of

Unreal Engine Unreal Engine (UE) is a 3D computer graphics game engine developed by Epic Games, first showcased in the 1998 first-person shooter game '' Unreal''. Initially developed for PC first-person shooters, it has since been used in a variety of genr ...

, and for applicants who have experience with "AAA cooperative multiplayer experience, multiplayer action combat titles." On September 6, 2018, NCSoft announced that Carbine Studios would be closed immediately and WildStar would 'begin the process of winding down'.

Game

'' WildStar'', a

science fantasy Science fantasy is a hybrid genre within speculative fiction that simultaneously draws upon or combines tropes and elements from both science fiction and fantasy. In a conventional science fiction story, the world is presented as being scienti ...

MMORPG A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a character (of ...

was the first and last game released by Carbine Studios in June 2014. The game, while it achieved initial success, dwindled over the next 4 years. The initial release model of subscription-based access to the game was abandoned and restructured into a Free to Play model with in-game microtransactions available. Wildstar was announced to be closed on November 28, 2018 via the game's website and the official Steam Forums.

References

External links

Carbine StudiosWildStar, official websiteNCSOFT Corporation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carbine Studios Companies based in Aliso Viejo, California Defunct video game companies of the United States Video game development companies Video game companies established in 2005 Video game companies disestablished in 2018 Defunct companies based in Greater Los Angeles NCSoft 2007 mergers and acquisitions American subsidiaries of foreign companies