KingsIsle Entertainment, Inc. is 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

Round Rock, Texas Round Rock is a city in Williamson and Travis County, Texas, United States, part of the Greater Austin metropolitan area. Its population is 119,468 according to the 2020 census. The city straddles the Balcones Escarpment, Texas State Histor ...

. Founded in January 2005 by Elie Akilian, the company operates a development studio in

, which hosts the majority of its staff. KingsIsle is best known for its

massively multiplayer online role-playing game 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 Player charac ...

s, ''

Wizard101 ''Wizard101'' is a 2008 massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by KingsIsle Entertainment. Players take on the role of student wizards who must save the Spiral, the fictional universe in which the game is ...

'' and ''

Pirate101 ''Pirate101'' is a 2012 massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by KingsIsle Entertainment. It is a sister game to ''Wizard101,'' set in the same fictional universe of the “Spiral”. The player assumes ...

''. After Media and Games Invest acquired KingsIsle in January 2021, Akilian spun off the mobile games segment as Wimo Games.

History

KingsIsle Entertainment was founded in January 2005 by Elie Akilian. Inspired by his teenage son, who was a fan of video games, Akilian established KingsIsle in

Plano, Texas Plano ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "flat surface" /'plano/) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, where it is the largest city in Collin County, Texas, Collin County. A small portion of Plano is located in Denton County, Texas, Denton Count ...

, and started hiring former employees of

id Software id Software LLC () is an American video game developer based in Richardson, Texas. It was founded on February 1, 1991, by four members of the computer company Softdisk: game programmer, programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer T ...

and

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Anno'', '' Assassin's Creed'', ' ...

to work on what would become ''

''. To do so, Akilian used funds generated from the 2004 sale of his communications software company Inet Technologies to Tektronix for .

J. Todd Coleman Jeffrey Todd Coleman is an American computer game designer and businessman. He is known for '' Shadowbane,'' released in 2003, and ''Wizard101,'' released in 2008. He was a founder of Wolfpack Studios, which was purchased by Ubisoft. He also wo ...

, who had sold his company, Wolfpack Studios, to Ubisoft in 2004, joined KingsIsle in December 2007 after being introduced to Akilian through mutual contacts. Coleman became the company's third employee and the first to be located in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

, where he was joined by former Wolfpack Studios co-founder Josef Hall shortly after. On April 25, 2008, KingsIsle formally announced its existence after "three years of lock down secrecy". At this point, the company had 100 employees in Plano and Austin, and was run by Akilian as

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 ...

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 ...

, and David Nichols, formerly of

Midway Games Midway Games Inc. (formerly Midway Manufacturing and Bally Midway, and commonly known simply as Midway) was an American video game company that existed from 1958 to 2010. Midway's franchises included ''Mortal Kombat'', ''Rampage (franchise), Ra ...

, 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 ...

. For the company's first project, ''Wizard101'', Coleman headed the development, while

Tom Hall Tom Hall (born September 2, 1964) is an American video game designer best known for his work with id Software on titles such as '' Doom'', '' Wolfenstein 3D'' and ''Commander Keen''. He has also been the co-founder of Ion Storm, together wit ...

, the co-founder of id Software and

Ion Storm Ion Storm, L.P. was an American video game developer founded in Dallas, Texas in November 1996 by John Romero and Tom Hall, both formerly of id Software ; a branch in Austin, Texas was opened in 1997. In April 1999, Eidos Interactive acquired 5 ...

, served as

creative director A creative director is a person who makes high-level creative decisions; oversees the creation of creative assets such as advertisements, products, events, or logos; and directs and translates the creative people who produce the end results. Creat ...

. Later that year, KingsIsle released ''Wizard101'' as a card-battling

aimed towards children and teenagers, in which players take on the role of student witches and wizards in a fantasy world. In September 2012, ''Wizard101'' had over 30 million registered users. To accommodate the growth of its Austin studio, KingsIsle leased 18,000 square feet of office space in the Domain 5 building of Austin's The Domain complex in December 2008. In February 2010, KingsIsle released ''WizardBlox'', a free game based on the ''Sorcery Stones'' mini-game from ''Wizard101'', for

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

. By September 2010, Austin hosted the majority of KingsIsle's 120 staff. The employee count rose to 135 by February 2011, and to 220 by August 2012. In October 2012, KingsIsle released its second online game, ''

'', which takes place within the same universe as ''Wizard101''. The following November, KingsIsle released ''Grub Guardian'', a tower defense game where players defend their towers with guard animals. ''Grub Guardian'' was released on

, as well as for

personal computer A personal computer, commonly referred to as PC or computer, is a computer designed for individual use. It is typically used for tasks such as Word processor, word processing, web browser, internet browsing, email, multimedia playback, and PC ...

s and

Android Android most commonly refers to: *Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), a mobile operating system primarily developed by Google * Android TV, a operating system developed ...

devices as a

browser game A browser game is a video game that is played on the internet using a web browser. They are sometimes referred to more specifically by their format, such as Flash games or HTML5 games. They are generally free-to-play and can be either single-pl ...

, and later as a native Android application. In January 2013, Coleman announced his departure from KingsIsle. In 2014,

Tyler, Texas Tyler, officially the City of Tyler, is a city in and the county seat of Smith County, Texas, United States. As of 2020, the population is 105,995. Tyler was the List of municipalities in Texas, 38th most populous city in Texas (as well as the m ...

-based company Smartflash LLC sued KingsIsle, alongside

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It is best known for its consumer electronics, software, and services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Comput ...

, Game Circus, and

Robot Entertainment Robot Entertainment is an American video game developer and publisher based in Plano, Texas. Its founders previously founded Ensemble Studios, which was shut down by Microsoft. Other members of the company founded another studio, Bonfire Studio ...

, for infringement on three patents filed by Smartflash's founder and part-owner, Patrick Racz, that related to digital distribution of game content, primarily

in-app purchase Microtransaction (mtx) refers to a business model where users can purchase in-game virtual goods with micropayments. Microtransactions are often used in free-to-play games to provide a revenue source for the developers. While microtransactions ...

s. All defendants, except for Apple, were dismissed from the case later that same year under undisclosed circumstances. It is believed that the companies either settled out of court or had their liabilities absorbed by Apple. On May 12, 2016, KingsIsle laid off 72 employees from its Austin studio, citing the cancellation of several unreleased mobile games and a shift in product strategy. In May 2017, KingsIsle released ''EverClicker'' for Android and iOS. In September 2017, the company leased 19,871 square feet of office space at 301 Sundance Parkway in

. In August 2018, KingsIsle released ''Animal Cove: Match 3 Adventure'' for Android and iOS. In September 2018, Dave Rosen and Craig Beers joined KingsIsle's executive team as vice-president of marketing and vice-president of product management, respectively. In January 2021, KingsIsle was acquired by the

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

-based

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

Media and Games Invest for and further as earn-out. Akilian subsequently spun off the company's mobile games segment as Wimo Games, heading it as

executive 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 ...

. In December, the studio signed an economic development agreement with the Round Rock City Council to move into new headquarters in Round Rock. The new offices facilitated all of the studio's employees, including the 80 from the former Round Rock location, and aimed at employing 150 further people within three years.

Games developed

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.kingsisle.com/ 2005 establishments in Texas 2021 mergers and acquisitions American companies established in 2005 Companies based in Plano, Texas Video game companies based in Texas Video game companies established in 2005 Video game development companies