Backbone Entertainment 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

Emeryville, California Emeryville is a city located in northwest Alameda County, California, in the United States. It lies in a corridor between the cities of Berkeley, California, Berkeley and Oakland, California, Oakland, with a border on the shore of San Francisc ...

. The company was formed in 2003 as the result of a merger between developers

Digital Eclipse Digital Eclipse Entertainment Partners Co. is an American video game developer based in Emeryville, California. Founded by Andrew Ayre in 1992, the company found success developing commercial Video game emulation, emulations of arcade games for ...

and ImaginEngine. In 2005, Backbone merged with The Collective to form

Foundation 9 Entertainment Foundation 9 Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game company based in Irvine, California. The company was formed in March 2005 through the merger of video game developers Backbone Entertainment and The Collective (company), The Collectiv ...

History

Backbone Entertainment was formed in 2003 through a merger between

, a developer of emulations of

arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily game of skill, games of skill and in ...

s, and ImaginEngine, an

edutainment Educational entertainment, also referred to by the portmanteau edutainment, is media designed to education, educate through entertainment. The term has been used as early as 1933. Most often it includes content intended to teach but has inciden ...

games developer. ImaginEngine remained an independent studio, based in

Framingham, Massachusetts Framingham () is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. Incorporated in 1700, it is located in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County and the MetroWest subregion of the Greater Boston ...

, while Digital Eclipse's studios were absorbed by Backbone, becoming Backbone Emeryville and Backbone Vancouver, respectively. In 2004, in co-operation with the

University of Hawaii A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

, Backbone opened an office in

Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

, under the lead of Backbone's

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 ...

, Mark Loughridge. On March 29, 2005, Backbone Entertainment announced that it was merging with another developer, The Collective, to form

. By this point, Backbone also operated Games2Learn, another edutainment game developer. Later in 2005, Backbone first rose to prominence with the release of ''

Death Jr. ''Death Jr.'' is a 2005 video game for the PlayStation Portable. The PSP iteration was the first PSP game shown publicly and advertised as a killer-app. It was released to a mixed reception and noted for numerous problems about the camera, gamep ...

'', a game for

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PA ...

. In February 2006, Backbone opened another subsidiary studio, Backbone Charlottetown, in

Charlottetown Charlottetown is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Prince Edward Island, and the county seat of Queens County, Prince Edward Island, Queens County. Named after Queen Charlotte, Charlott ...

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island is an island Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. While it is the smallest province by land area and population, it is the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

, Canada, under the lead of Andrew Ayre. In May 2007, the new studio, including Ayre and several former Digital Eclipse employees, spun off from Backbone and became Other Ocean Interactive, aiming at showcasing Digital Eclipse's former traits in a smaller fashion. In September 2008, Backbone let go most people employed at its Vancouver studio, followed by a full closure of the studio in May 2009. In October 2012, Backbone laid off the majority of its Emeryville-based staff to avoid closing completely. A few days later, it was reported that ImaginEngine had shut down, leaving 25 people, including

studio head 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 ...

Randall Sanborn, out of work.

Subsidiaries

* Backbone Charlottetown (2006–2007) * Backbone Emeryville (2003–2015) * Backbone Vancouver (2003–2009) * Games2Learn * ImaginEngine (2003–2012)

Games developed

References

{{Authority control 2003 establishments in California 2015 disestablishments in California American companies disestablished in 2015 American companies established in 2003 Companies based in Emeryville, California Defunct companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Defunct computer companies based in California Defunct video game companies of the United States Video game companies based in California Video game companies disestablished in 2015 Video game companies established in 2003 Video game development companies