Bloober Team

Bloober Team S.A.
Company typePublic
NewConnect: BLO
ISINPLBLOBR00014
IndustryVideo games
Founded6 November 2008; 16 years ago (2008-11-06)
Founders
  • Piotr Babieno
  • Piotr Bielatowicz
Headquarters
Kraków
,
Poland
Key people
Piotr Babieno (CEO)
ProductsSee developed games
Owners
Number of employees
250[2] (2024)
Subsidiaries
  • Digital Games Services[3]
  • iPlacement[3]
  • Neuro-Code[3]
  • Feardemic[3]
  • Bloober Team NA[3]
Websiteblooberteam.com

Bloober Team S.A. is a Polish video game developer based in Kraków. Founded in November 2008 by Piotr Babieno and Piotr Bielatowicz, the company is best known for developing horror games such as Layers of Fear (2016), Observer (2017), Blair Witch (2019), The Medium (2021), and Silent Hill 2 (2024). In January 2018, Bloober Team received the Paszport Polityki award in the "Digital Culture" category. It owns third-party publisher Feardemic.[4]

History

Bloober Team was founded by Piotr Babieno and Piotr Bielatowicz.[5] The studio was originally part of Nibris, a developer set up in 2006, but sought to become independent through investor funding.[6] The studio formally launched on 6 November 2008, employing 20 people in Kraków offices.[6] Babieno became the chief executive officer for the company.[6] In October 2010, following Nibris' decision to exit the game development business and the cancellation of their only video game, Sadness, many of the company's developers joined Bloober Team.[7]

One of their first titles they developed was Music Master: Chopin for Microsoft Windows and iOS. Because it was released to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Frédéric Chopin, the game contains several piano and vocal performances of Chopin's work.[8][9] In 2013, they released a free-to-play multiplayer online battle arena game Deathmatch Village for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. It features cross-play interactivity between the two consoles and consists of three-on-three arena battles.[10][11]

One of the turning points in Bloober Team's history was the development of Basement Crawl, which debuted alongside the PlayStation 4. Following poor reception, the studio reworked the game by re-using the core game concept while introducing new graphics, game mechanics, story, and game modes. The resulting product, Brawl, was released in February 2015 to favourable reviews and was made available free of charge for owners of Basement Crawl.[12]

The developer received the Paszport Polityki award in the "Digital Culture" category on 10 January 2018.[13] A new project, codenamed Project Méliès, was announced on 8 March 2018.[14] In October that year, the title was announced to be Layers of Fear 2, to be released in 2019 by Gun Media.[15]

In 2009, Bloober Team founded a subsidiary limited liability company iFun4all sp. z o.o.[16] and later brought it to NewConnect stock exchange with the initial public offering occurring on 23 September 2016.[17] On 23 August 2019, the company changed its name from iFun4all to Draw Distance.[18] Bloober Team remains the owner of 34.98% of the Draw Distance shares.[19]

After about a year of negotiations with various companies related to the acquisition, Bloober Team stated in March 2021 that they plan to remain as an independent company, though will look to do strategic partnering with one of these companies in the future.[20]

Bloober Team and Konami announced a strategic partnership in June 2021 to jointly share technology and game development towards video game titles.[21]

In October 2021, Bloober Team announced that Tencent became their majority shareholder with 22% of shares.[22] In May 2022, Bloober Team announced a "significant license and distribution agreement" with Sony Interactive Entertainment.[23]

During Summer Game Fest 2022, Bloober Team confirmed they were working on a new Layers of Fear, described as both a remaster and sequel of the original series, built using Unreal Engine 5.[24]

In October 2022, after months of rumors, Konami announced that Bloober Team is remaking Silent Hill 2. The studio is using Unreal Engine 5 and it will be a timed console-exclusive on PlayStation 5 while also releasing on Windows through Steam.[25] In an interview with DreadXP, Bloober Team revealed that they were invited by Konami to pitch their idea for a Silent Hill 2 remake among other studios.[26]

In February 2023, Bloober Team revealed that a title codenamed "Project M" would be entering development, with Draw Distance as the main developer.[27] In July 2024, it was announced that Draw Distance would be removed from the project in favor of Bloober Team completing it in-house. In addition, it was stated that it would be the first game to be published by the company's new subsidiary, Broken Mirror Games.[28]

Bloober Team announced two new projects in April 2024. One, "Project C", is in partnership with Take-Two Interactive's publishing label Private Division, and will be a completely new IP owned by Bloober. The second, "Project R", is in partnership with Skybound Entertainment, with a planned 2025 release.[29]

Games developed

Year Title Platform(s) Publisher(s) Ref.
2010 History: Egypt – Engineering an Empire iOS, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, Wii, Windows Bloober Team [30]
Hospital Havoc Nintendo DS [31]
Music Master: Chopin iOS, macOS, Windows [32]
Paper Wars: Cannon Fodder Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, Wii, Xbox 360, Nintendo Switch [33]
2011 Double Bloob Nintendo DSi [34]
2012 A-Men PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Windows [35]
2013 Deathmatch Village PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita [36]
A-Men 2 PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Windows [37]
2014 Basement Crawl PlayStation 4 [38]
2015 Brawl Android, Linux, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows [12]
2016 Layers of Fear Linux, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One Aspyr [39][40]
2017 Observer Linux, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S [41][42]
2019 Layers of Fear 2 Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One Gun Media [15]
Blair Witch Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One Lionsgate Games [43]
2021 The Medium macOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox Series X/S Bloober Team [44]
2023 Layers of Fear macOS, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox Series X/S [45]
2024 Silent Hill 2 PlayStation 5, Windows Konami [46]
2025 Cronos: The New Dawn PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox Series X/S Bloober Team [47]

Cancelled games

  • Gender Wars: The Battle/Future Fight (iOS)[48][49]
  • Last Flight (Wii)[50]
  • Scopophobia (Windows)[51]

References

  1. ^ a b "Akcjonariat" [Shareholders] (in Polish). Bloober Team. Archived from the original on 5 September 2023. Retrieved 5 September 2023.
  2. ^ https://www.blooberteam.com/about-us
  3. ^ a b c d e Babieno, Piotr; Rekieć, Konrad (31 May 2019). "BLOOBER TEAM S.A. – Sprawozdanie z działalności grupy kapitałowej – Za okres 01.01.2018-31.12.2018" [BLOOBER TEAM S.A. – Report on the activities of the capital group – For the period 01.01.2018-31.12.2018] (PDF). Bloober Team (in Polish). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 January 2023. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  4. ^ Makuch, Eddie (2 August 2021). "Feardemic Names New CEO As It Welcomes More Investors For Its "Aggressive Expansion Plans"". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 27 February 2023. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  5. ^ "Bloober Team Breaks Down the Psychology of 'Hidden Horror' in New Video for >observer_". Gamasutra. 23 June 2017. Archived from the original on 8 May 2018.
  6. ^ a b c Elliott, Phil (6 November 2008). "Bloober team announces company formation". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 20 June 2019. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  7. ^ Sterling, Jim (19 October 2010). "Sadness developer Nibris no longer makes videogames". Destructoid. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  8. ^ Chalk, Andy (15 April 2010). "Classical Music Goes Guitar Hero in Music Master: Chopin". Escapist Magazine. Archived from the original on 20 November 2018. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
  9. ^ Smoszna, Krystian (15 December 2010). "Music Master: Chopin - Classic - recenzja gry". Gry Online. Archived from the original on 13 May 2021. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
  10. ^ Gilmour, James (1 February 2013). "F2P brawler Deathmatch Village to make Cross-Play a cost-free proposition". Pocket Gamer. Archived from the original on 29 September 2019. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  11. ^ Bochenek, Michal (18 February 2013). "Deathmatch Village brings redneck MOBA action to PS3 and PS Vita". PlayStation Blog. Archived from the original on 19 April 2015. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  12. ^ a b Sanchez, Miranda (22 April 2015). "Brawl Coming to PS4 This Week". IGN. Archived from the original on 16 December 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  13. ^ Kłosiński, Daniel (10 January 2018). "Twórcy Observer ze studia Bloober Team laureatami Paszportu Polityki". Eurogamer.pl. Archived from the original on 29 June 2018. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  14. ^ Wood, Austin (8 March 2018). "Project Méliès is the next game from Observer, Layers of Fear dev". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 5 July 2018. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  15. ^ a b Chalk, Andy (25 October 2018). "Layers of Fear 2 revealed, set to come out next year". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 17 December 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  16. ^ "Monitor Sądowy i Gospodarczy nr 101/2009 (3204) - Pozycja 65841". National Court Register in Poland, entry for iFun4all. Archived from the original on 29 July 2021. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  17. ^ "ESPI/EBI Report of the admission to trading". NewConnect. Archived from the original on 18 January 2024. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  18. ^ "ESPI/EBI Report of the name change". NewConnect.
  19. ^ "ESPI Report 29/2020". Bloober Team investor relations portal. Archived from the original on 1 July 2020. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  20. ^ Scullion, Chris (30 March 2021). "The Medium's studio has backed away from acquisition talks". Video Games Chronicle. Archived from the original on 30 March 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  21. ^ Saed, Sherif (30 June 2021). "The Medium dev Bloober Team working with Konami on new projects". VG247. Archived from the original on 30 June 2021. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
  22. ^ "Tencent becomes Bloober Team's largest shareholder by acquiring 22% of its shares for $19.5 million". Archived from the original on 26 September 2022. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  23. ^ "Bloober Team "enters into a significant license and distribution agreement with Sony Interactive Entertainment" (PS Plus?)". Archived from the original on 13 May 2022. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  24. ^ "Bloober Team Reveals Horror Sequel That's Not Silent Hill". Kotaku. 9 June 2022. Archived from the original on 10 June 2022. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  25. ^ "Silent Hill 2 Remake Announced From Bloober Team, First Look at Pyramid Head". IGN. 19 October 2022. Archived from the original on 31 October 2022. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  26. ^ Wood, Justin (3 January 2024). "Bringing The Fear: Interview With Anna Jasińska From Bloober Team". DreadXP. Archived from the original on 4 January 2023. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
  27. ^ Liang, Lu-Hai (14 February 2023). "Bloober Team's Project M Will Be Made By Serial Cleaners Dev". The Gamer. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
  28. ^ Białobrzeski, Maciej (8 July 2024). "Bloober Team nie widzi związku między końcem współpracy z Draw Distance a wypowiedzianą umową przez Take-Two (wywiad)". Strefa Inwestorow. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
  29. ^ Blake, Vikki (27 April 2024). "Bloober Team is working with Take-Two to develop a brand game based on a new IP". Eurogamer. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  30. ^ Chan, Trevor (11 May 2011). "Egypt: Engineering an Empire Taking Over WiiWare and DSiWare". Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on 16 December 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  31. ^ Kaplan, Zach (26 July 2010). "Review: Hospital Havoc (DSiWare)". Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on 22 June 2023. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  32. ^ Fletcher, JC (13 April 2010). "Music Master: Chopin is a music game for the classically inclined". Engadget. Archived from the original on 16 December 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  33. ^ Elliot, Patrick (21 April 2011). "Bloober Team Working on NGP Launch Title". Push Square. Archived from the original on 22 June 2023. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  34. ^ Chan, Trevor (17 May 2011). "Double Bloob Now Bouncing on DSiWare Instead". Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on 22 June 2023. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  35. ^ Latanicki, Olivier (17 October 2012). "A-MEN out today for PS3 with PS Vita Cross Play support". PlayStation Blog Europe. Archived from the original on 3 July 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  36. ^ Hillier, Brenna (18 February 2013). "Deathmatch Village beta due "really soon"". VG247. Archived from the original on 16 December 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  37. ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (24 October 2013). "A-Men 2 announced for PS3 and Vita". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 17 December 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  38. ^ Pitcher, Jenna (24 January 2014). "Basement Crawl brings its grindhouse flavor to Europe Jan. 29". Polygon. Archived from the original on 16 December 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  39. ^ Romano, Sal (25 October 2018). "Layers of Fear 2 announced". Gematsu. Archived from the original on 17 December 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  40. ^ Wales, Matt (25 October 2018). "Observer developer unveils its classic-cinema-themed horror Layers of Fear 2". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 17 December 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  41. ^ Romano, Sal (31 August 2018). "Observer coming to Switch". Gematsu. Archived from the original on 21 December 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  42. ^ "Bloober Team Observer System Redux". Archived from the original on 28 December 2023. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  43. ^ Billcliffe, James (10 June 2019). "Blair Witch returns to reclaim its camera-toting horror crown from Outlast". VG247. Archived from the original on 10 June 2019. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  44. ^ "Bloober Team Announces Psychological Horror Game, the Medium, Coming to Xbox Series X in 2020". 7 May 2020. Archived from the original on 7 May 2020. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  45. ^ "Bloober team announces Layers of Fears at Summer game Fest 2022, Layers of Fears, Coming to Xbox Series X in 2023". 2023. Archived from the original on 13 June 2022. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  46. ^ McWhertor, Michael (19 October 2022). "Silent Hill 2 remake coming to PS5, PC". Polygon. Archived from the original on 23 October 2022. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
  47. ^ Bailey, Kat. "Bloober Team's Next Game After Silent Hill 2 Remake Is a Sci-Fi Horror Game Called Cronos: The New Dawn". IGN. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
  48. ^ GamesIndustry International (29 April 2010). "Future Fight". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 17 December 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  49. ^ Gilbert, Ben (9 February 2010). "Last Flight devs announce 'Gender Wars: The Battle,' an iPad strategy game". Engadget. Archived from the original on 16 December 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  50. ^ "Last Flight". Nintendo Life. 22 June 2013. Archived from the original on 16 December 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  51. ^ Moriarty, Colin (15 August 2014). "Introducing an All-New Victorian Horror Game: Scopophobia". IGN. Archived from the original on 22 June 2023. Retrieved 22 June 2023.