4J Studios Limited is a British

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

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

. It has a second office located in

East Linton East Linton is a village and former police burgh in East Lothian, Scotland, situated on the River Tyne, Scotland, River Tyne and A199 road (former A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road) five miles east of Haddington, East Lothian, Haddington, with ...

. Founded in April 2005 by

VIS Entertainment VIS Entertainment Limited (formerly known as VIS Interactive) was a British video game developer based in Edinburgh. Chris van der Kuyl and Peter Baillie established the company in 1996. In 2003, VIS Entertainment faced financial struggles and ...

alumni Chris van der Kuyl, Paddy Burns and Frank Arnot, the company is best known for porting

Mojang Studios Mojang AB, trading as Mojang Studios, is a Swedish video game developer based in Stockholm. A first-party developer for Xbox Game Studios, the studio is best known for developing the sandbox and survival game ''Minecraft'', the best-selli ...

' ''

Minecraft ''Minecraft'' is a 2011 sandbox game developed and published by the Swedish video game developer Mojang Studios. Originally created by Markus Persson, Markus "Notch" Persson using the Java (programming language), Java programming language, the ...

'' to consoles and handheld platforms.

History

4J Studios was founded by Chris van der Kuyl, Paddy Burns and Frank Arnot on 19 April 2005, twelve days after van der Kuyl's previous video game venture,

, entered into

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

. All three were previously employed by that company, with van der Kuyl as

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

. In November 2012, co-founder and

studio director Studio manager, studio director, or studio head is a job title in various media-related professions, including design, advertising, and broadcasting. Design and advertising A design or advertising studio manager's responsibilities will typically ...

Arnot announced that he had left 4J Studios to establish Stormcloud Games with co-workers Andy West and Pat McGovern. In March 2018, 4J Studios invested a "six-figure sum" in Puny Astronaut, a Dundee-based developer founded by

Abertay University Abertay University () is a public university in the city of Dundee, Scotland. In 1872, Sir David Baxter, 1st Baronet of Kilmaron, left a bequest for the establishment of a mechanics' institute in Dundee and the Dundee Institute of Technology w ...

alumni. 4J Studios' van der Kuyl and Burns subsequently joined that company's

board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

, with van der Kuyl also becoming the

chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

. 4J Studios then opened an investment fund, Chroma Ventures, in March 2021, which absorbed the Puny Astronaut stake and invested in several other studios. In October 2022, 4J Studios announced its intent to start publishing games, starting with Puny Astronaut's ''Skye Tales'' in 2023. In October 2024,

Curve Games Curve Games Limited (formerly Curve Digital Limited and Curve Studios Limited) is a British video game publisher and former video game developer based in London, founded in 2005 by Jason Perkins. It focuses on the publishing of indie games. ...

picked up the publishing rights for ''Skye Tales'' and 4J's own ''Manic Mechanics''. In May 2024, 4J Studios revealed a trailer of its next project, the Elements Engine, a proprietary 3D

voxel In computing, a voxel is a representation of a value on a three-dimensional regular grid, akin to the two-dimensional pixel. Voxels are frequently used in the Data visualization, visualization and analysis of medical imaging, medical and scient ...

sandbox

game engine A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games which generally includes relevant libraries and support programs such as a level editor. The "engine" terminology is akin to the term " software engine" u ...

built from the ground up, with world size and performance in mind. With the announcement of the Elements Engine, they teased the development of a new video game using the engine. In September 2024, 4J Studios announced their new video game, Reforj, a voxel-based sandbox video game built on their Elements Engine. The development team includes the Minecraft

YouTuber A YouTuber is a content creator and social media influencer who uploads or creates videos on the online video-sharing website YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006 ...

Joseph Garrett Joseph Mark Garrett (born 13 December 1990), better known as Stampylonghead, Stampylongnose, Stampy Cat, or simply Stampy, is an English YouTuber, actor, and author best known for his ''Minecraft'' video game commentaries as the character of S ...

(better known as Stampy).

Games developed

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2005 establishments in Scotland Companies based in Dundee Privately held companies of Scotland Software companies of Scotland Video game companies established in 2005 Video game companies of the United Kingdom Video game development companies