James Schmalz

Digital Extremes Ltd.
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
Founded1993
HeadquartersLondon, Ontario, Canada
Number of employees
300+[1]
ParentLeyou
DivisionsDigital Extremes Toronto[2]
Websitewww.digitalextremes.com

Digital Extremes Ltd. is a Canadian video game developer founded in 1993 by James Schmalz. They are best known for creating Warframe, a free-to-play cooperative online action game, and co-creating Epic Games' Unreal series of games. Digital Extremes is headquartered in London, Ontario. In 2014, 61% of the company was sold to Chinese holding company Multi Dynamic, now Leyou, for $73 million.[3] On May 22, 2016 Leyou exercised a call option and increased their stake to 97% of Digital Extremes for a total consideration of $138.2 million US.[4] On December 23, 2020, Tencent bought Leyou for 1.3 billion dollars, which included the majority stake in Digital Extremes that Leyou held.

History

Founder James Schmalz created Epic Pinball, published by then shareware publisher, Epic MegaGames. Bolstered from the success of Epic Pinball[5] and the rising technology movement in the mid-'90s toward realistic 3D graphics, Schmalz founded Digital Extremes in 1993 and the company began co-development with Epic on what would become Epic's Unreal franchise.[6]

Unreal is a first-person shooter, released in 1998, and was followed up with Unreal Tournament in 1999, which received numerous industry awards.[7] Subsequent sequels in the Unreal franchise include Unreal Championship, Unreal Tournament 2003, and Unreal Tournament 2004. The Unreal series has sold more than 15 million units worldwide across a multitude of game platforms including PlayStation 2, Dreamcast, Xbox, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Mac and PC.

According to Scott Miller, the cofounder of the video game company 3D Realms, Digital Extremes was willing to take over development of their much-delayed game Duke Nukem Forever in 2004. However, the proposal was rejected by others at 3D Realms, which Miller described as a "fatal suicide shot" for the project.[8]

After years of working in the same universe with Unreal, Digital Extremes broadened its library and technology with development of its original intellectual property, Dark Sector. A third-person shooter released in 2008 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC, Dark Sector used Digital Extremes' proprietary game engine, the Evolution Engine.

Digital Extremes worked with 2K to develop the comic-book franchise video game sequel, The Darkness II, which met with positive reviews.[9][10][11][12] Digital Extremes developed the PlayStation 3 version of BioShock,[13] as well as developed the multiplayer component of the sequel, BioShock 2, while simultaneously developing the multiplayer portion of THQ's first-person shooter Homefront.[14]

Digital Extremes developed the game for the 2013 Star Trek Into Darkness film, working with Bandai Namco and Paramount to develop Star Trek, which was very poorly received.[15]

On October 14, 2014, Sumpo Food Holdings Ltd. acquired a majority share of Digital Extremes, with Perfect World Co. acquiring minority shares.[16][17][18] Sumpo was rebranded as Leyou in 2015, and by June 2016, had purchased the remaining shares in Digital Extremes.[19][20]

In 2016, it was revealed that Digital Extremes' game Warframe had been hacked, exposing the email addresses of more than 700,000 players.[21]

On October 6, 2017, Digital Extremes announced it would open a development studio in Toronto, Canada, set to begin operations the following month.[2]

On December 23, 2020, Leyou was acquired by Tencent, which included Digital Extremes. The developer stated this would not change how they operate as they remained independent of Tencent, though through Tencent they would be able to provide better support for the Chinese version of the Warframe client.[22]

In October 2023, James Schmalz stepped down as CEO, with former Warframe director Steve Sinclair promoted to CEO.[23]

In November 2023, Digital Extremes reportedly laid off about 30 employees, mostly from their external projects division. While the layoffs were confirmed, the company would not state how many people were affected. They also terminated their partnership with Airship Syndicate, returning Wayfinder to their control.[24]

Projects

Digital Extremes started development of Warframe, a free-to-play title, in 2000. Digital Extremes launched Warframe on PC in March 2013, PlayStation 4 in November 2013, and on Xbox One in September 2014. At TennoCon 2018, Digital Extremes announced it would bring Warframe to Nintendo Switch. The company released Warframe on Nintendo Switch on November 20, 2018. Digital Extremes continues to refresh this games-as-a-service title on a regular basis with updates including "Plains of Eidolon" (October 2017), "The Sacrifice" (June 2018), "Fortuna" (November 2018), the Nightwave series (February 2019), "The Jovian Concord" (May 2019), "Empyrean" (Christmas 2019), "Heart of Deimos" (August 2020), "The New War" (December 2021), and the "Duviri Paradox" (April 2023).

Digital Extremes worked with developer n-Space to develop the fantasy role-playing video game, Sword Coast Legends, set within the Dungeons & Dragons franchise.[25]

Digital Extremes worked with Madison, Wisconsin-based developer Human Head Studios to publish Survived By, a free-to-play bullet-hell MMO with crafting and role-playing elements. Survived By was shut down as of April 19, 2019.[26]

During TennoCon 2022, Digital Extremes announced Soulframe, an upcoming fantasy MMORPG. It also announced that it would be publishing a massively multiplayer online game from Airship Syndicate, Wayfinder.[27] However, after Wayfinder's release in August 2023, Digital Extremes cut their external games division, leaving Wayfinder under Airship Syndicate's control.[28]

Technology

The Evolution logo

Evolution is Digital Extremes' proprietary game engine.[29] The engine made its debut with Dark Sector; and was again utilized in The Darkness II.[30] 2013's Star Trek featured use of the Evolution engine.

Awards and recognition

Since the launch of Warframe, its expansion and popularity has grown, resulting in multiple awards. In late 2017, Warframe won the Steam Labor of Love award,[31] an award nominated by Steam's internal team, but voted on by players. The award is described by Steam as: "This game has been out for a while. The team is well past the first unveiling of their creative baby, but being the good parents they are, these devs continue to nurture and support their creation. This game, to this day, is still getting new content after all these years." Warframe was nominated in The 2017 and 2018 Game Awards as one of the Best Ongoing Games, losing to Overwatch and Fortnite, respectively.[32]

In early 2018, Warframe won the People's Voice Webby Award for Best Action Game,[33] and ProMax's Best Marketing Campaign of the Year Award.[34] In March 2018, Noclip, published the video documentary on the making of Warframe. The two-part feature tells the story of how Warframe succeeded as an independently developed and published game that changed the course of Digital Extremes.[35][36]

Digital Extremes' employment environment has been recognized as one of Canada's Top Employers for 2010, 2011, 2012[37] and through to 2018.[38] Additionally, the company has been recognized as one of Canada's top employers for Young People.[39] In 2010 and 2011, the Financial Post named Digital Extremes one of the 10 best companies to work for in Canada.[40]

On the provincial level, Digital Extremes received the Ontario Small Business Award in 2010.[41] Digital Extremes was also presented with the Large Business of the Year award in 2011 from the London Chamber of Commerce.[42] Digital Extremes was also awarded the Excellence in Human Resources award from The London Chamber of Commerce in early 2012.[43]

Games developed

Year Title Platform(s)
DC DOS Lin Mac PS PS2 PS3 PS4 Win Xbox X360 XOne Switch iOS
1993 Solar Winds No Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No
1993 Epic Pinball No Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No
1993 Silverball No Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No
1995 Extreme Pinball No Yes No No Yes No Yes No No No No No No No
1998 Unreal No No No Yes No No No No Yes No No No No No
1999 Unreal Tournament Yes No Yes Yes No Yes No No Yes No No No No No
2001 Adventure Pinball: Forgotten Island No No No No No No No No Yes No No No No No
2002 Unreal Championship No No No No No No No No No Yes No No No No
2002 Unreal Tournament 2003 No No Yes Yes No No No No Yes No No No No No
2004 Unreal Tournament 2004 No No Yes Yes No No No No Yes No No No No No
2005 Pariah No No No No No No No No Yes Yes No No No No
2006 Warpath No No No No No No No No Yes Yes No No No No
2008 Dark Sector No No No No No No Yes No Yes No Yes No No No
2008 BioShock (PS3 port) No No No No No No Yes No No No No No No No
2010 BioShock 2 (multiplayer) No No No Yes No No Yes No Yes No Yes No No No
2011 Homefront (multiplayer) No No No No No No No No Yes No No No No No
2012 The Darkness II No No No Yes No No Yes No Yes No Yes No No No
2013 Warframe No No No No No No No Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes
2013 Star Trek No No No No No No Yes No Yes No Yes No No No
2015 Sword Coast Legends No No Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes No No Yes No No
Canceled The Amazing Eternals No No No No No No No No Yes No No No No No
2018 Survived By (published) No No No No No No No No Yes No No No No No
TBA Soulframe No No No No No No No No Yes No No No No No

Further reading

References

  1. ^ "Digital Extremes - Our Company". September 6, 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Digital Extremes expands to Toronto". Gamesindustry.biz.
  3. ^ "GamesBeat Boss interview: China's Leyou moves from chicken meat to triple-A game publishing". VentureBeat. September 2, 2017. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
  4. ^ "HKSE-Listed Leyou Technologies Acquires Balance of Digital Extremes from Founders | Bennett Jones". www.bennettjones.com. Retrieved October 25, 2019.
  5. ^ RGB Classic Games. "Epic Pinball". RGB Classic Games.
  6. ^ David Jenkins (August 20, 2007). "Digital Extremes Weighs In On Unreal Engine 3 for PS3". Gamasutra.com. Retrieved February 8, 2012.
  7. ^ "GT Interactive and Epic Games Earn Coveted 'Game of the Year' Honors for 'Unreal Tournament'". Business Wire. February 17, 2000. p. 1261.
  8. ^ Tyler Wilde (May 11, 2022). "Former 3D Realms owners clash over Duke Nukem Forever blame". PC Gamer. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  9. ^ "PC Gamer review". PC Gamer. February 7, 2012.
  10. ^ "Giant Bomb review".
  11. ^ "EGM Review". Archived from the original on July 3, 2019. Retrieved October 8, 2018.
  12. ^ "Quarter to Three Review". February 28, 2012.
  13. ^ Mike Bendel (June 8, 2008). "Digital Extremes To Assist In BioShock PS3 Development". exophase.com. Retrieved February 8, 2012.
  14. ^ Jaz McDougall (August 18, 2010). "Homefront PC port has dedicated servers". pcgamer.com. Retrieved February 8, 2012.
  15. ^ "Star Trek director J.J. Abrams 'emotionally hurt' by Star Trek: The Video Game". Polygon. September 13, 2013.
  16. ^ Digital Extremes (October 14, 2014). "In-Depth: Partnership Announced".
  17. ^ Makuch, Eddie (October 15, 2014). "Unreal, BioShock Dev Digital Extremes Sold to Chinese Companies". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 18, 2014.
  18. ^ Futter, Mike (October 16, 2014). "Digital Extremes: No Changes To Leadership Following Majority Acquisition By Chinese Firms". Game Informer. GameStop. Retrieved October 18, 2014.
  19. ^ "GamesBeat Boss interview: China's Leyou moves from chicken meat to triple-A game publishing". VentureBeat. September 2, 2017. Retrieved July 23, 2018.
  20. ^ "Lexpert ® | Leyou Technologies acquires 39% of Digital Extremes for US$65 million". Retrieved July 23, 2018.
  21. ^ "Digital Extremes admits Warframe hack". July 22, 2016.
  22. ^ Stanton, Rich (December 23, 2020). "Tencent acquires Warframe developer Digital Extremes and several other studios". PC Gamer. Retrieved December 23, 2020.
  23. ^ Writer, Jeffrey Rousseau Staff (October 24, 2023). "James Schmalz steps down as CEO of Digital Extremes". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved November 10, 2023.
  24. ^ Writer, Sophie McEvoy Staff (November 10, 2023). "Digital Extremes impacted by layoffs, closing publishing division". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved November 10, 2023.
  25. ^ Jared Petty (February 13, 2015). "New Dungeons & Dragons Game Sword Coast Legends coming in 2015". IGN. Archived from the original on April 2, 2020. Retrieved February 13, 2015.
  26. ^ "Survived By: A MESSAGE TO OUR PLAYERS". March 19, 2019. Archived from the original on May 19, 2019. Retrieved May 9, 2019.
  27. ^ Maker, Connor (July 16, 2022). "Digital Extremes announces Soulframe and indie publishing during TennoCon 2022". VG 247. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
  28. ^ Carpenter, Nicole (November 9, 2023). "Wayfinder, Warframe publisher Digital Extremes cuts workers, divests from Wayfinder". Polygon. Retrieved November 9, 2023.
  29. ^ Mark DeLoura (March 9, 2010). "In-Depth: The State Of Game Engines At GDC 2010". gamasutra.com. Retrieved February 8, 2012.
  30. ^ Kranzl, Justin (May 5, 2011). "Preview: The Darkness II". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved September 6, 2011.
  31. ^ "The Steam Awards". store.steampowered.com. Retrieved October 8, 2018.
  32. ^ "Awards - The Game Awards". The Game Awards. Archived from the original on February 26, 2018. Retrieved October 8, 2018.
  33. ^ "Warframe | The Webby Awards". Retrieved October 8, 2018.
  34. ^ "Best Marketing Campaign of the Year".[permanent dead link]
  35. ^ Noclip (March 19, 2018), Warframe Documentary (Part One) - The Story of Digital Extremes, archived from the original on December 22, 2021, retrieved October 8, 2018
  36. ^ Noclip (March 21, 2018), Warframe Documentary (Part Two) - The Story of Warframe, archived from the original on December 22, 2021, retrieved October 8, 2018
  37. ^ Canada's Top 100 (October 7, 2011). "Canada's Top 100 Employers: National Competition". Canadastop100.com. Retrieved February 9, 2012.{cite web}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  38. ^ "Top Employer: Digital Extremes Ltd". content.eluta.ca. Retrieved October 8, 2018.
  39. ^ Canada's Top 100 (September 19, 2011). "Canada's Top 100 Employers for Young People". Canadastop100.com. Retrieved February 9, 2012.{cite web}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  40. ^ Canada's Top 100 (February 1, 2011). "Financial Post's Ten Best Companies To Work For". Canadastop100.com. Retrieved March 13, 2012.{cite web}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  41. ^ Jody Lundrigan (September 16, 2010). "Twelve Ontario Businesses Named Winners of Business and Export Excellence". Ontario Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved February 9, 2012.Archived 2016-08-21 at the Wayback Machine
  42. ^ London Chamber of Commerce. "Business Achievement Awards – Business of the Year Hall of Fame".
  43. ^ London Free Press. "Celebrating City's Best". Archived from the original on January 7, 2018. Retrieved October 4, 2018.

External links