Company:Deep Silver

From HandWiki
Short description: Austrian video game publisher
Deep Silver
TypeDivision
IndustryVideo games
FoundedNovember 2002; 21 years ago (2002-11)
Headquarters
Höfen
,
Austria
Area served
Worldwide
ProductsSee List of Deep Silver games
ParentPlaion
Subsidiaries
Websitedeepsilver.com

Deep Silver is an Austrian video game publisher and a division of Plaion.[1]

History

Deep Silver was announced in November 2002, with their first release to be Anarchy Online: The Notum Wars.[2] According to Craig McNichol, who ran Koch Media's England branch, the idea behind Deep Silver was to have a business segment that would develop games that would complement the games Koch Media was distributing on behalf of other publishers.[3] McNichol also stated that Deep Silver's name was subject to much internal discussion.[3] Koch Media invested €500,000 in Deep Silver in July 2003, and in November 2003, all of Koch Media's game publishing operations (excluding distribution) were reallocated to Deep Silver.[4][5] The division had been continuously active since, primarily in Europe.[1] In April 2008, Koch Media opened Deep Silver, Inc., a subsidiary branch based in Los Angeles , under Deep Silver's name.[6] In August 2007, Games That Matter, a studio founded by former Rockstar Vienna employees in 2006, was acquired by Koch Media and became part of Deep Silver under the name Deep Silver Vienna.[7] Co-founders Niki Laber and Hannes Seifert had left the studio by January 2010, at which point Deep Silver Vienna was shut down.[8][9] Deep Silver Vienna has only produced one game, Cursed Mountain, which was developed in association with Sproing Interactive and released in August 2009 for the Wii.[10]

Deep Silver first gained widespread attention with their release of Dead Island and their acquisition of Volition.[1] Dead Island had been their first release to reach the top spot on sales charts in September 2011,[11] and they acquired Volition in January 2013, alongside the rights to the Metro series, from the bankruptcy proceedings of THQ.[12] Deep Silver also acquired a minority interest in Berlin-based free-to-play game developer Infernum Productions in December 2012.[13] In February 2013, Deep Silver announced its intentions to expand into the mobile games market.[14]

In December 2013, Fishlabs, which had filed for self-administration the previous October, was acquired by Koch Media and became Deep Silver's dedicated mobile game studio.[15] As the agreement was an asset deal, the legal entity of the studio was dissolved and Fishlabs was reorganised as a division, officially known as Deep Silver Fishlabs.[15][16] In July 2014, Deep Silver acquired the rights to Homefront and its in-development sequel, Homefront, from German developer Crytek.[17] Dambuster Studios (officially, Deep Silver Dambuster Studios) was established to continue the development of The Revolution, succeeding Crytek UK.[17] Later on the same day, Crytek announced that Crytek UK would be closed, and all of its staff transferred to Dambuster Studios.[18] In August 2018, Koch Media acquired the rights to the TimeSplitters games, which would be overseen by Deep Silver.[19]

In May 2020, Koch Media and THQ Nordic, by this time both part of Embracer Group, exchanged several intellectual property rights: Deep Silver received Red Faction and Painkiller, while handing off Risen, Rush for Berlin, Sacred, Second Sight, and Singles.[20]

In May 2021, Deep Silver and Koch Media, part of Embracer Group since 2018, announced that Free Radical Design had been re-founded. Work on a new part of the TimeSplitters series is to begin before the end of 2021.[21] In November 2022, Volition was transferred to Gearbox Entertainment, another company under Embracer Group. In December 2023, Free Radical Design was closed down amidst a widescale company restructuring from Embracer Group.[22]

Controversy

In January 2013, Deep Silver announced a special edition of their then-upcoming game Dead Island, titled Zombie Bait Edition, which would include a statuette of a mutilated female torso in Europe and Australia.[23] After strong criticism over the item, Deep Silver initially offered an apology, stating that they were "deeply sorry" and promising consumers that something like that would not happen again.[24] However, when the game was released in April that year, the bust was still included, generating further backlash.[24]

In January 2019, Deep Silver partnered with Epic Games on a one-year exclusivity deal for the personal computer (PC) version of their upcoming game Metro Exodus on Epic's digital distribution storefront, the Epic Games Store.[25] Through this deal, Metro Exodus was removed from Steam, another digital distribution storefront, where Deep Silver had been selling pre-orders for the game since August 2018.[26] Additionally, the deal was made and announced less than three weeks prior to game's release, causing criticism and confusion among critics and fans of the Metro franchise.[25] Valve, the company behind Steam, labelled the move as unfair to consumers, while fans review-bombed previous entries of the series on Steam.[26][27]

Games

Franchises published by Deep Silver include Metro from 4A Games and Volition's Saints Row, both of which were acquired through THQ's bankruptcy auction in 2013, as well as Techland-created Dead Island. Other games include Homefront by Dambuster Studios, Shenmue III by Ys Net, and Payday 3 by Starbreeze Studios

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Handrahan, Matthew (4 February 2013). "Koch Media: "We are not ambitious to be the next THQ"". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-02-01-koch-media-we-are-not-ambitious-to-be-the-next-thq. 
  2. ↑ Steininger, Stefan (12 November 2002). "Koch Media etabliert neues Label für Games". http://beta.gamesmarkt.de/details/124095. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 McNichol, Craig (5 August 2014). "Twenty years of Koch Media". MCV/Develop. https://www.mcvuk.com/business/twenty-years-of-koch-media. Retrieved 2 February 2019. 
  4. ↑ "Koch Media investiert 500.000 Euro in Deep Silver". http://beta.gamesmarkt.de/details/137110. 
  5. ↑ "Koch Media konzentriert Spielepublishing auf Deep Silver". http://beta.gamesmarkt.de/details/144377. 
  6. ↑ "Koch Media expands into US". MCV/Develop. 30 April 2008. https://www.mcvuk.com/business/koch-media-expands-into-us. Retrieved 2 February 2019. 
  7. ↑ Martin, Matt (22 August 2007). "Koch acquires Games That Matter". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/koch-acquires-games-that-matter. 
  8. ↑ Brice, Kath (1 February 2010). "Koch closes Deep Silver Vienna studio". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/koch-closes-deep-silver-vienna-studio. 
  9. ↑ "Koch Media schließt Deep Silver Vienna". http://beta.gamesmarkt.de/details/285234. 
  10. ↑ Alexander, Leigh (1 February 2010). "Deep Silver Closes Vienna Studio". https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/117961/Deep_Silver_Closes_Vienna_Studio.php. 
  11. ↑ "Deep Silver Dead pleased with first No.1". MCV/Develop. 15 September 2011. https://www.mcvuk.com/business/deep-silver-dead-pleased-with-first-no1. Retrieved 2 February 2019. 
  12. ↑ Goldfarb, Andrew (23 January 2013). "THQ Dissolved, Saints Row, Company of Heroes Devs Acquired". https://www.ign.com/articles/2013/01/23/thq-dissolved-saints-row-company-of-heroes-darksiders-devs-acquired. 
  13. ↑ Handrahan, Matthew (18 December 2012). "Koch Media invests in F2P dev Infernum Productions". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-12-18-koch-media-invests-in-f2p-dev-infernum-productions. 
  14. ↑ Weber, Rachel (26 February 2013). "Deep Silver planning move into mobile". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-02-26-deep-silver-planning-move-into-mobile. 
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Corriea, Alexa Ray (2 December 2013). "Galaxy on Fire developer Fishlabs purchased by Koch Media". https://www.polygon.com/2013/12/2/5166254/report-fishlabs-purchased-by-koch-media. 
  16. ↑ Chapple, Craig (14 May 2014). "'It was the hardest time we've ever gone through': How Fishlabs came back from the brink". MCV/Develop. https://www.mcvuk.com/development/it-was-the-hardest-time-weve-ever-gone-through-how-fishlabs-came-back-from-the-brink. Retrieved 2 February 2019. 
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Sarkar, Samit (30 July 2014). "Deep Silver buys Homefront from Crytek, moves Homefront: The Revolution to new studio". https://www.polygon.com/2014/7/30/5951985/deep-silver-homefront-the-revolution-ip-dambuster-studios. 
  18. ↑ Sarkar, Samit (30 July 2014). "Homefront: The Revolution devs to move to Deep Silver as Crytek scales back two studios". https://www.polygon.com/2014/7/30/5952159/crytek-uk-usa-homefront-deep-silver-hunt. 
  19. ↑ Dransfield, Ian (15 August 2018). "Timesplitters license acquired by Koch Media". MCV/Develop. https://www.mcvuk.com/business/timesplitters-license-acquired-by-koch-media. Retrieved 2 February 2019. 
  20. ↑ Wood, Austin (5 May 2020). "Red Faction, Painkiller, Risen and more get closer to home in THQ Nordic and Koch Media IP trade". https://www.gamesradar.com/red-faction-painkiller-risen-and-more-get-closer-to-home-in-thq-nordic-and-koch-media-ip-trade/. 
  21. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (20 May 2021). "New TimeSplitters Game Coming From Original Developers". https://www.gamespot.com/articles/new-timesplitters-game-coming-from-original-developers/1100-6491747/. 
  22. ↑ Phillips, Tom. "TimeSplitters studio Free Radical Design closed today, staff say". https://www.eurogamer.net/timesplitters-studio-free-radical-design-closed-today-staff-say. 
  23. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (23 April 2013). "Dead Island: Riptide edition with severed torso statue still available in Europe, Australia". https://www.polygon.com/2013/4/23/4256790/dead-island-riptide-edition-with-severed-torso-statue-still-available. 
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Parfitt, Ben (23 April 2013). "So Deep Silver went ahead and shipped the Dead Island Riptide Zombie Bait Edition regardless". MCV/Develop. https://www.mcvuk.com/business/so-deep-silver-went-ahead-and-shipped-the-dead-island-riptide-zombie-bait-e. Retrieved 5 February 2019. 
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Williams, Mike (29 January 2019). "Metro Exodus' Sudden Switch to Epic Really is Unfair". https://www.usgamer.net/articles/metro-exodus-sudden-switch-to-epic-really-is-unfair. 
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Orland, Kyle (28 January 2019). "Epic Games Store snags Metro Exodus away from Steam [Updated"]. https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/01/epic-games-store-snags-metro-exodus-away-from-steam/. 
  27. ↑ Chalk, Andy (30 January 2019). "Players protest Epic's Metro Exodus exclusive by review-bombing the series on Steam". PC Gamer. https://www.pcgamer.com/metro-review-bomb-steam/. Retrieved 5 February 2019. 

External links



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