Iron Galaxy

Iron Galaxy Studios, LLC is an American video game developer studio based in Chicago, Illinois, with additional studios in Orlando, Florida, and Nashville, Tennessee. Iron Galaxy often collaborates with publishers and developers to provide "technical consulting", port games to different platforms, co-development, lead development, and support.

Iron Galaxy is most known for its lead development of ''Rumbleverse'' and ''Killer Instinct'' (2013 video game) Seasons 2 & 3, as well as its port work for PC and console games.

History

First projects

Iron Galaxy was founded by Dave Lang in 2008 as a work-for-hire support and technical consulting studio. Lang had worked for Midway Games for several years before using his contacts at Capcom to get work porting games like ''Bionic Commando'' and ''Dark Void''.

Lang eventually was able to gain the trust of Capcom and Iron Galaxy developed ''Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition'', released in 2011. Capcom also hired Iron Galaxy to port ''Marvel vs Capcom Origins'' and ''DarkStalkers Resurrection''.

Original games

In 2011, Microsoft approached Iron Galaxy to pitch an original game for the Kinect. The company developed a concept where the player uses motion controls to destroy castles, similar to ''Angry Birds''. Iron Galaxy released ''Wreckateer'', its first original property, in July 2012.

In 2013, Iron Galaxy teamed up with One True Game Studios to release the parody fighting game '' Divekick'' on PlayStation 3, Vita, and Windows. A second studio in Orlando was opened to assist with development. An updated version of the game, called ''Divekick: Addition Edition'', launched on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Arkham games

Iron Galaxy worked on the Windows port of ''Batman: Arkham Origins''. Upon release in 2013, the PC version suffered from numerous bugs and performance issues. After some initial fixes were released, Warner Bros. Games announced in February 2014 that it would not be addressing many of the game's lingering problems.

In 2015, Iron Galaxy returned to work on the PC port for ''Batman: Arkham Knight''. However, this version of the game was plagued by serious performance issues. Just days after release, WB pulled the game from sale. Reports indicated that Warner Bros. knew the bad state of the game and chose to ship it anyway. Rocksteady, developer of the console versions, worked to fix the PC port's issues. After four months, ''Arkham Knight'' was put back on sale in October.

Killer Instinct reboot

Iron Galaxy was initially in the running to work on the 2013 reboot of ''Killer Instinct''. According to Lang, they made it to the final round but were ultimately passed over due to their commitment on ''Wreckateer.'' However, following Amazon's purchase of Double Helix Games in 2014, Microsoft hired Iron Galaxy as the new ongoing developer for ''Killer Instinct.''

Under Iron Galaxy, season 2 was released in October 2014 and season 3 in March 2016. A 10th anniversary update was also released in 2023 that added 4K support, updated balancing, and improved matchmaking.

In January 2015, Gearbox announced the ''Borderlands Handsome Collection'', which brought ''Borderlands 2'' and '' Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel'' to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Iron Galaxy was one of the developers that handled the port. Iron Galaxy also handled the PlayStation Vita port of Borderlands 2.

Push into publishing

In 2015, Iron Galaxy also expanded into publishing under its own label. It released ''Capsule Force'' in 2015 and Tim Roger's '' Videoball'' in 2016. However, the initiative ultimately failed and a third game, ''Gunsport'', took several more years to complete.

Executive changes

In July 2016, Adam Boyes became CEO of Iron Galaxy, replacing co-founder Dave Lang, who remained on to oversee prototypes and business development. The company had 130 employees at the time.

In June 2017, Iron Galaxy announced ''Extinction'', its first full-priced game, published by Maximum Games. The game was released for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on April 10, 2018. Chelsea Blasko was elevated to Co-CEO in October 2020.

Nintendo Switch ports

Following the release of the Nintendo Switch, Iron Galaxy managed to find a niche for porting high-profile titles to the console. The studio worked with Bethesda to port The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in 2017. In 2018, it worked with Blizzard to release ''Diablo III'' on the Switch. The port took just nine months to develop and received positive reviews from critics.

After that, Iron Galaxy worked on the 2019 ports of '' Dauntless'' and ''Overwatch'' and the ''Apex Legends'' conversion in 2021. It was also one of the support studios that helped Retro Studios on the 2023 ''Metroid Prime Remastered''.

Rumbleverse

In December 2021, the company unveiled ''Rumbleverse'', a wrestling-themed, free-to-play battle royale game. Epic Games would be serving as publisher with a February 2022 release. Iron Galaxy pitched the game in 2017 and took three years to fully develop it. By this point, the company had 230 employees with 80 people working on ''Rumbleverse''. However, by January 2022, the game was delayed indefinitely, though playtests continued.

It wasn't until July that the game received a new release date. ''Rumbleverse'' was released in August 2022, but never saw the success it needed to survive. By January 2023, Iron Galaxy announced the game would shut down the following month—six months after launch. Those who paid for in-game currency or the Battle Pass would be eligible for a refund. A version for the Nintendo Switch was in the works at the time. Despite some initial hype, the game ultimately suffered due to competition from similar games, limited multiplayer modes, its exclusivity to the Epic Games Store, and a lack of interest from the streaming community. In the end, the game couldn't generate the revenue it needed to stay afloat.

Post-Rumbleverse

Despite the high-profile failure of ''Rumbleverse'', Iron Galaxy was able to avoid layoffs by reassigning developers and reconnecting with work-for-hire clients, like Naughty Dog. It handled the PC port for the ''Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves'' collection in 2022. Iron Galaxy then worked on the 2023 PC port of ''The Last of Us Part 1''. Initially expected to release on March 3, it was delayed three weeks until March 23. The game proved to be in rough shape upon release. Iron Galaxy will return to work on the port of ''The Last of Us Part II''.

In 2022, Iron Galaxy opened a new studio in Nashville, Tennessee. By April 2024, it moved to a bigger space. Plans for a new studio in Austin were announced but later delayed following the ''Rumbleverse'' shutdown.

Boyes stepped down from his position as co-CEO in August 2024 and Blasko remained as the company's sole CEO. In February 2025, Iron Galaxy announced it would lay off 66 developers and support staff as a "means of last resort" for the company to stay afloat.

In March 2025, Iron Galaxy announced their next game, ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4,'' a remake of the third and fourth games in the ''Tony Hawk's'' series.

Games

Original works

Published games

Port and support work

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://irongalaxystudios.com/

2008 establishments in Illinois
American companies established in 2008
Companies based in Chicago

Software companies based in Illinois
Video game companies established in 2008
Video game companies of the United States
Video game development companies