Ready At Dawn Studios LLC (RAD) 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 ...

located in

Irvine, California Irvine () is a Planned community, planned city in central Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. It was named in 1888 for the landowner James Irvine. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the ...

that was composed of former members of Naughty Dog and

Blizzard Entertainment Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher based in Irvine, California, and a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard. Originally founded in 1991, the company is best known for producing the h ...

. Formed in 2003, the company was closely affiliated with

Sony Computer Entertainment Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (SIE) is an American video game and digital entertainment company that is a major subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Sony, Sony Group Corporation. It primarily operates the PlayStation brand of video game co ...

, developing games in the ''

God of War A war god in mythology associated with war, combat, or bloodshed. They occur commonly in polytheism, polytheistic religions. Unlike most gods and goddesses in polytheistic religions, monotheistic deities have traditionally been portrayed in their ...

'' series and '' Daxter''. Ready At Dawn had a satellite campus in Portland, Oregon, to assist with future PC and console game development, but closed the office in 2022 as they adapted a hybrid work model. The studio was acquired by Oculus Studios as of June 2020. On August 7, 2024, Ready at Dawn was closed by

Reality Labs Reality Labs, formerly Oculus VR, is a business and research unit of Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook Inc.) that produces virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) hardware and software, including virtual reality headsets such as the Qu ...

(formerly Oculus Studios).

History

Ready At Dawn was founded in 2003 in

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

by Ru Weerasuriya, Andrea Pessino, Didier Malenfant, and former members of the

subsidiary Naughty Dog. They released their first game, '' Daxter'', in 2006. The company finished working on their second PSP game, '' God of War: Chains of Olympus'' as well as a Wii port of ''

Ōkami is a 2006 action-adventure game developed by Clover Studio and published by Capcom. It was released for PlayStation 2 in 2006 in Japan and North America, and in 2007 in Europe and Australia. After the closure of Clover Studio a few months afte ...

'', with added motion controls. In June 2008 it was confirmed that the company had ceased developing games for the PSP, and that they had returned the relevant development kits to Sony. However, reports claim that the developer received new development kits after returning. Their next game was '' God of War: Ghost of Sparta'', collaboratively developed with Santa Monica Studio for the PSP, with their new proprietary engine. Ready At Dawn released the '' God of War: Origins Collection'' for the

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

on September 13, 2011. This collection is a port of their two ''God of War'' games for the PSP, ''Chains of Olympus'' and ''Ghost of Sparta'', to the PS3 with high-definition graphics, DualShock 3 support,

Trophies A trophy is a tangible, decorative item used to remind of a specific achievement, serving as recognition or evidence of merit. Trophies are most commonly awarded for sporting events, ranging from youth sports to professional level athletics. Add ...

, and Stereoscopic 3D, the first ''God of War'' release to support this feature. In October 2009, Ready At Dawn began working on a new game engine. The Ready At Dawn Engine is said to be a wholly console-centric platform, integrated with a suite of third-party tools that require no additional license. These tools include 3D content editing, audio, user interface, and asset management systems. In July 2010, it was announced that Ready At Dawn had made thirteen employees redundant, citing difficulties in finding funding between projects behind the redundancies. In early 2012, the company began hiring for the development of a third-person

action-adventure game An action-adventure game is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Definition An action adventure game can be defined as a game with a mix of elements from an action ...

for a "next generation home console game system." Ready At Dawn and Sony later revealed the game at E3 2013 as '' The Order: 1886''. In June 2015, Ru Weerasuriya, the founder of the company, announced that his position as CEO will be replaced by Paul Sams and will step down to become the company's president and chief creative officer. In April 2017, Ready At Dawn was in attendance at the large Chinese game publisher, Tencent’s UP Conference, this was to announce a partnership to bring Ready At Dawn games into China. This partnership was headlined by bringing the game Deformers to China, although it was short lived due to the Deformers servers being shut down in August 2018. In July 2017, Ready At Dawn released Lone Echo and Echo Arena exclusively for the Oculus Rift. Echo Arena has since been included in the VR League, a VR

esports Esports (), short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, played individually or as teams. ...

segment of ESL, since Season 1. In November 2018, Ready At Dawn released Echo Combat, a first-person shooter DLC using the same zero-g movement found in Echo Arena, and announced that the company had opened a satellite studio in

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

. It is to be believed that this new satellite studio is a part of the development of Ready At Dawn’s new project that was teased back in February 2018. In June 2020, Oculus Studios, under

Meta Platforms Meta Platforms, Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Menlo Park, California. Meta owns and operates several prominent social media platforms and communication services, including Facebook, Instagram, Threads ...

, acquired Ready At Dawn to develop VR titles for the platform. In January 2023, Ready At Dawn announced they would be shutting down Echo VR (Echo Arena & Echo Combat) on August 1, 2023, to focus on future projects. In April 2023, the studio was hit by layoffs, which resulted in roughly a third of the employees being laid off. In August 2024, the studio was closed.

Games developed

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ready at Dawn 2003 establishments in California 2024 disestablishments in California Companies based in Irvine, California American companies established in 2003 American companies disestablished in 2024 Defunct video game companies of the United States Video game companies established in 2003 Video game companies disestablished in 2024 Oculus VR Video game companies based in California Video game development companies 2020 mergers and acquisitions Meta Platforms acquisitions