Frozenbyte

Frozenbyte, Inc.
Native name
Frozenbyte Oy
Company typeLimited company (osakeyhtiö)
IndustryVideo games
Founded2001; 23 years ago (2001)
HeadquartersHelsinki, Finland
Products
Number of employees
~60 (2024)
Websitewww.frozenbyte.com
Footnotes / references
[1]

Frozenbyte, Inc. (natively Frozenbyte Oy) is a Finnish video game developer founded in 2001 and based in Helsinki.[2] As of December 2020, it had approximately 130 employees. Frozenbyte's first commercial game was Shadowgrounds for Microsoft Windows. Both Shadowgrounds and its follow-up Shadowgrounds: Survivor were released for Linux in 2009, ported by IGIOS and published by Linux Game Publishing. They and all their later games use an engine that has been known internally as Storm3D, originally by Finnish programmer Sebastian Aaltonen.[3][4][5]

Frozenbyte's next commercial game, Trine was released in 2009 for Microsoft Windows in 2009, and has since been ported to Linux, OS X, the PlayStation Network, and Nintendo eShop. The game spawned four sequels, Trine 2 which was released on Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 in December 2011, Linux in March 2012, and Wii U eShop in November 2012, and Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power which was released via Steam Early access in August 2015.[6] A fourth installment, Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince was released in October 2019.[7] The fifth installment Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy was released in 2023.

A Humble Indie Bundle sale started on 12 April 2011, and featured five games from Frozenbyte, including Trine, Shadowgrounds, and Shadowgrounds: Survivor, for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. It also contained an executable version along with source code for an unfinished game, Jack Claw, and a pre-order for their upcoming game, Splot [Wikidata].[8] As of August 2021, Splot has still to be published, and buyer's libraries on Humble Bundle say "There are no full release builds planned of Splot for Windows, Mac, and Linux".[citation needed]

On 4 December 2015, the company announced Shadwen, a stealth game where time moves only when the player moves.[9]

On 28 May 2019, the company announced a new upcoming game Starbase, a sci-fi MMO that was allegedly in development in secret for five years prior.[10]

Games developed

References

  1. ^ "About | Frozenbyte". Frozenbyte. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  2. ^ "Frozenbyte Oy". Kauppalehti (in Finnish). Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  3. ^ Frozenbyte. "Jack Claw License". GitHub. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
  4. ^ Bush, Josh (3 May 2012). "Cheese talks to: Frozenbyte (about Trine and other things)". Cheese Talks. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
  5. ^ Faile, Rudy (22 April 2020). "Custom Game Engines: A Small Study". Retrieved 26 January 2024.
  6. ^ Savage, Phil (26 April 2015). "Trine 3 is out in Early Access next week". PC Gamer. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  7. ^ a b KaiFB (24 October 2018). "Trine 4 Confirmed! | Frozenbyte". www.frozenbyte.com. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  8. ^ Plunkett, Luke (11 April 2011). "This Might Be The Best Indie Bargain Of 2011". Kotaku. Retrieved 11 April 2011.
  9. ^ Matulef, Jeffery (4 December 2015). "Trine developer Frozenbyte reveals time-manipulating stealth game Shadwen". Eurogamer. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  10. ^ "Starbase – A New Sci-Fi MMO Game By Frozenbyte Revealed! | Frozenbyte". www.frozenbyte.com. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
  11. ^ Haveri, Mikael (2 November 2012). "Official website saying game is set for 'early 2014 release'". Retrieved 2 November 2012.
  12. ^ "Has-Been Heroes | Frozenbyte". www.frozenbyte.com. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  13. ^ Matulef, Jeffery (15 August 2016). "Frozenbyte announces co-op twin-stick wizardry game Nine Parchments". Eurogamer. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
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