Pi Studios was a

computer game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedbac ...

software developer founded in 2002 by Robert Erwin, John Faulkenbury, Rob Heironimus, Dan Kramer and Peter Mack whose first commercial work can be found in

Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one ...

's '' Call of Duty: United Offensive''. The company originated in

Plano, Texas Plano ( ) is a city in Collin County and Denton County, Texas, United States. It had a population of 285,494 at the 2020 census. It is a principal city of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. History European settlers came to the area near ...

and relocated to Houston, Texas in January, 2005. In November, 2005, Pi Studios released '' Call of Duty 2: Big Red One'' for the PlayStation 2, the

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by th ...

, and the

GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the W ...

. Work on that project was done jointly with Activision's internal studio,

Treyarch Treyarch Corporation ( ; formerly Treyarch Invention LLC) is an American video game developer based in Santa Monica, California. Founded in 1996 by Peter Akemann and Doğan Köslü, it was acquired by Activision in 2001. The studio is known for ...

. This led to work on '' Call of Duty 3'' in October 2006, developed jointly with

. Pi's work on the

Call of Duty ''Call of Duty'' is a first-person shooter video game franchise published by Activision. Starting out in 2003, it first focused on games set in World War II. Over time, the series has seen games set in the midst of the Cold War, futuristic ...

franchise continued with the '' Call of Duty 3 Bravo Map Pack'' (downloadable via

Xbox Live Arcade Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) is a digital video game download service available through the Xbox Games Store, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360. It focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independen ...

) followed by '' Call of Duty: World at War'', in which they assisted

in creating the single player mission "Blowtorch and Corkscrew". Pi Studios helped develop the '' Halo 2 Vista'' editing toolset and exclusive multiplayer map content, which was included with the game. Pi Studios also developed '' Mercenaries 2: World in Flames'' on PlayStation 2 which was released in the United States on August 31, 2008, and in Europe on September 5, 2008. Pi Studios is responsible for the PlayStation 2 and Wii versions of ''

Rock Band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two gui ...

'', which shipped December 18, 2007 and June 22, 2008, respectively. These were developed in conjunction with

Harmonix Harmonix Music Systems, Inc., doing business as Harmonix, is an American video game developer company based in Boston, Massachusetts. The company was established in May 1995 by Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy. Harmonix is perhaps best known as b ...

. Pi Studios also worked with

to produce four

Rock Band Track Packs ''Rock Band Track Packs'' (called ''Song Packs'' in Europe and Australia) are a series of supplemental media discs for the ''Rock Band'' series of music video games. The packs are developed by Harmonix and Demiurge Studios (earlier packs were d ...

for the Wii and PlayStation 2. The two companies' final collaborative effort was on '' The Beatles: Rock Band'' for the ( Wii), released in 2009. '' Bomberman Live: Battlefest'' for

, released in December 2010. Pi Studios was developing '' Bonk: Brink of Extinction'' for release on

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

and Wii but it was cancelled. In March 2011, it was announced that Pi Studios was closed as former employees have now formed a new development team called Category 6 Studios, which currently has around 15 members including co-founder and industry veteran Kenn Hoekstra.

Games developed

*'' Bonk: Brink of Extinction'' (Cancelled) *'' Quake Arena Arcade'' (2010) *'' Call of Duty: Black Ops'' (2010) *'' Bomberman Live: Battlefest'' (2010) *'' The Beatles: Rock Band'' ( Wii) (2009) *''

Wolfenstein ''Wolfenstein'' is a series of World War II video games originally developed by Muse Software. The majority of the games follow William "B.J." Blazkowicz, an American Army captain and his fight against the Axis powers. Earlier titles are center ...

'' (2009) *'' Rock Band Classic Rock'' ( PlayStation 2 /

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generati ...

/ Wii) (2009) *'' Call of Duty: World at War'' (2008) *'' Rock Band 2'' ( PlayStation 2) (2008) *'' Rock Band 2'' ( Wii) (2008) *'' Mercenaries 2: World in Flames'' ( PS2) (2008) *'' Rock Band Track Pack Vol. 1'' ( PlayStation 2 / Wii) (2008) *'' Rock Band Track Pack Vol. 2'' ( PlayStation 2 /

/ Wii) (2008) *'' Rock Band AC/DC'' ( PlayStation 2 /

/ Wii) (2008) *''

'' ( Wii) (2008) *''

'' ( PlayStation 2) (2007) *''

Halo 2 ''Halo 2'' is a 2004 first-person shooter game developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox console. ''Halo 2'' is the second installment in the ''Halo'' franchise and the sequel to 2001's critically acclaimed ' ...

'' (

Windows PC Windows is a group of several Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, W ...

) (2007) *'' Call of Duty 3'' (2006) *'' Call of Duty 2: Big Red One'' (2005) *'' Call of Duty: United Offensive'' (2004)

References

External links

{{Authority control Video game companies established in 2002 Video game companies disestablished in 2011 Defunct video game companies of the United States Video game development companies Companies based in Houston 2002 establishments in Texas 2011 disestablishments in Texas Defunct companies based in Texas