Behaviour UK – North (formerly SockMonkey Studios) is a British

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 ...

, founded by

Teesside University Teesside University is a public university with its main campus in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire in North East England. It was officially opened as ''Constantine Technical College'' in 1930, before becoming a polytechnic in 1969, and finally g ...

graduates Bob Makin and Darren Cuthbert, in

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

North East England North East England, commonly referred to simply as the North East within England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of County DurhamNorthumberland, , Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and part of northern North Yorkshire. ...

History

Founded in February 2013 with the help of DigitalCity, prior to SockMonkey Studios Makin and Cuthbert worked at other studios including

Team17 Team 17 Digital Limited (Team17) is a British video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher based in Wakefield, England. The venture was created in December 1990 through the merger of British publisher 17-Bit Software and Swedish dev ...

, Jagex and

Iguana ''Iguana'' (, ) is a genus of herbivorous lizards that are native to tropical areas of Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. The genus was first described by Austrian naturalist Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti, J.N. Laurenti in ...

. Makin and Cuthbert were later joined by industry veteran Darren Falcus. Building their foundation on primarily work for hire jobs, the studio collaborated with numerous video game companies such as

SEGA is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...

, Double Eleven and Team 17 to assist in the porting of their games to other consoles. After setting up their offices on Victoria Road in Middlesbrough, in 2015 they moved their headquarters to the Phoenix Building at Teesside University, moving again to Boho 5 as the studio grew and as of 2021 reside at 16/26 Albert Road North in Middlesbrough. From its inception, the studio experienced growth due to increasing demand within the gaming industry and by 2020 had added dozens of positions. In 2019 alone they reported doubling the headcount in their

Teesside Teesside () is an urban area around the River Tees in North East England. Straddling the border between County Durham and North Yorkshire, it spans the boroughs of Borough of Middlesbrough, Middlesbrough, Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, Stockton ...

office. In 2020, during an expansion phase, Ron Ashtiani – former CEO of Sumo Group's Atomhawk Business – was added to the board of directors. During 2020, the studio also received funding from Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund. In February 2023 it was announced that SockMonkey Studios had been acquired by

Behaviour Interactive Behaviour Interactive Inc. (stylized as "bEHAVIOUR", sometimes shortened to "BHVR") is a Canadian video game developer and publisher based in Montreal. The studio is best known for the multiplayer horror game '' Dead by Daylight''. History The co ...

, becoming Behaviour UK – North.

Contract work

Although the studio also worked on full-scale development, SockMonkey was predominantly a work-for-hire studio, having worked globally on contracts for both PC and console, including US-based developers such as

tinyBuild tinyBuild Inc. is an American Video game publisher, publisher of indie games based in Bellevue, Washington. The company was established by Alex Nichiporchik and Tom Brien in 2011 to expand Brien's game ''No Time to Explain'' into a commercial ...

and Outfit7.

Awards

Games

{, class="wikitable" !Year !Game Title !Role !Notes , - , 2013 , Wurdy , Development , , - , rowspan="3" , 2014 , Joe Danger , Porting , Ported to Android , - , SockaMonkeys , Full Development , , - , The Soccer Monkey , Full Development , , - , rowspan="2" , 2015 , Joe Danger Infinity , Porting , Ported to Android , - , Unannounced Title , Porting , Unreleased title , - , rowspan="2" , 2016 , Farm Fighters , Development , Added online multiplayer and design work , - , Kingdom Conquest (Unreleased) , Art and Animation , Unreleased mobile title , - , rowspan="3" , 2017 , The Rocky Horror Show: Touch Me , Development , Code development , - , PlayPhoto , Development , Addition of Imessage add-on , - , The Escapists , Porting , , - , rowspan="3" , 2018 , Beat the Intro , Development , , - , Songbringer , Porting , Ported to

Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...

, - , Prison Architect , Porting , Ported to

, - , 2019 , Prison Architect , Development , Created content and updates for console and PC , - , rowspan="4" , 2020 , Talking Tom Candy Run , Porting , Ported to

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...

and

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...

, and added Multiplayer Mode , - , Deliver Us the Moon , Porting , Ported to

and

, - , Tens! , Porting and Development , Ported to PC, Mac and

added content, Story Mode and Multiplayer Mode , - , Kill it with Fire , Porting , Ported to

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 ...

and Android , - , 2021 , Totally Accurate Battlegrounds , Development , Co-development of future updates and content and changing the game from premium to free to play , - , rowspan="4" , 2022 , Happy's Humble Burger Farm , Porting , Ported to Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch , - , Little Orpheus , Porting and Development , Remastered and Ported to Xbox One, PlayStation 4 / 5, Switch and PC , - , Tinykin , Porting , Ported to Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, MS Store, PlayStation 4 / 5 and Switch , - , CoComelon: Play with JJ , Full Development , Nintendo Switch

References

Video game development companies Companies based in Middlesbrough Video game companies of the United Kingdom Video game companies established in 2013 2013 establishments in England British companies established in 2013 2023 mergers and acquisitions