Digital Extremes Explained

Digital Extremes Ltd.
Type:Subsidiary
Industry:Video games
Num Employees:300+[1]
Parent:Leyou
Divisions:Digital Extremes Toronto[2]
Foundation:1993
Location:London, Ontario, Canada

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] In May 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] In December 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, but 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 poorly received.[15]

In October 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]

Digital Extremes opened a development studio in Toronto, Canada, and began operations in January 2018.[2]

In December 2020, Leyou was acquired by Tencent, which included Digital Extremes. The developer stated that 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. Community manager Rebecca Ford became the game's new director.[23] In the following month, 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, and on Xbox One in September 2014. The company released Warframe on Nintendo Switch in November 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 2019.[26]

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

Technology

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. It is currently utilised in Warframe and the upcoming Soulframe.

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. 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.

Digital Extremes' employment environment has been recognized as one of Canada's Top Employers for 2010, 2011, 2012[35] and through to 2018.[36] Additionally, the company has been recognized as one of Canada's top employers for Young People.[37] In 2010 and 2011, the Financial Post named Digital Extremes one of the 10 best companies to work for in Canada.[38]

On the provincial level, Digital Extremes received the Ontario Small Business Award in 2010.[39] Digital Extremes was also presented with the Large Business of the Year award in 2011 from the London Chamber of Commerce.[40] Digital Extremes was also awarded the Excellence in Human Resources award from The London Chamber of Commerce in early 2012.[41]

Games developed

YearTitlePlatform(s)
DCDOSLinMacPSPS2PS3PS4PS5WinXboxX360XOneXSXSSwitchiOS
1993Solar Winds
1993Epic Pinball
1993Silverball
1995Extreme Pinball
1998Unreal
1999Unreal Tournament
2001
2002Unreal Championship
2002Unreal Tournament 2003
2004Unreal Tournament 2004
2005Pariah
2006Warpath
2008Dark Sector
2008BioShock (PS3 port)
2010BioShock 2 (multiplayer)
2011Homefront (multiplayer)
2012The Darkness II
2013Warframe
2013Star Trek
2015Sword Coast Legends
CanceledThe Amazing Eternals
2018Survived By (published)
TBASoulframe

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Digital Extremes - Our Company. September 6, 2023.
  2. News: Digital Extremes expands to Toronto. Gamesindustry.biz.
  3. News: GamesBeat Boss interview: China's Leyou moves from chicken meat to triple-A game publishing. 2017-09-02. VentureBeat. 2018-07-24. en-US.
  4. Web site: HKSE-Listed Leyou Technologies Acquires Balance of Digital Extremes from Founders Bennett Jones. www.bennettjones.com. 2019-10-25.
  5. Web site: RGB Classic Games . Epic Pinball . RGB Classic Games.
  6. Web site: David Jenkins . Digital Extremes Weighs In On Unreal Engine 3 for PS3 . Gamasutra.com . August 20, 2007 . February 8, 2012.
  7. News: GT Interactive and Epic Games Earn Coveted 'Game of the Year' Honors for 'Unreal Tournament' . 1261 . . February 17, 2000.
  8. News: Tyler Wilde . 2022-05-11 . Former 3D Realms owners clash over Duke Nukem Forever blame . en . PC Gamer . 2022-05-12.
  9. Web site: PC Gamer review. . February 7, 2012.
  10. Web site: Giant Bomb review. February 7, 2012 .
  11. Web site: EGM Review. October 8, 2018. July 3, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190703040126/http://www.egmnow.com/articles/reviews/egm-review-the-darkness-ii/. dead.
  12. Web site: Quarter to Three Review. February 28, 2012.
  13. Web site: Mike Bendel . Digital Extremes To Assist In BioShock PS3 Development. exophase.com . June 8, 2008 . February 8, 2012.
  14. Web site: Jaz McDougall . Homefront PC port has dedicated servers. pcgamer.com . August 18, 2010 . February 8, 2012.
  15. Web site: Star Trek director J.J. Abrams 'emotionally hurt' by Star Trek: The Video Game. Polygon. September 13, 2013.
  16. Web site: Digital Extremes . In-Depth: Partnership Announced. October 14, 2014.
  17. Web site: Unreal, BioShock Dev Digital Extremes Sold to Chinese Companies. GameSpot. CBS Interactive. October 15, 2014. October 18, 2014. Eddie. Makuch.
  18. Digital Extremes: No Changes To Leadership Following Majority Acquisition By Chinese Firms. https://web.archive.org/web/20141017082655/http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2014/10/16/two-chinese-companies-acquire-majority-of-warframe-dev-digital-extremes.aspx. dead. October 17, 2014. Game Informer. GameStop. October 16, 2014. October 18, 2014. Mike. Futter.
  19. News: GamesBeat Boss interview: China's Leyou moves from chicken meat to triple-A game publishing. 2017-09-02. VentureBeat. 2018-07-23. en-US.
  20. News: Lexpert ® Leyou Technologies acquires 39% of Digital Extremes for US$65 million. 2018-07-23. en.
  21. Web site: Digital Extremes admits Warframe hack. July 22, 2016.
  22. Web site: Tencent acquires Warframe developer Digital Extremes and several other studios . Rich . Stanton . December 23, 2020 . December 23, 2020 . PC Gamer.
  23. Web site: Writer . Jeffrey Rousseau Staff . 2023-10-24 . James Schmalz steps down as CEO of Digital Extremes . 2023-11-10 . GamesIndustry.biz . en.
  24. Web site: Writer . Sophie McEvoy Staff . 2023-11-10 . Digital Extremes impacted by layoffs, closing publishing division . 2023-11-10 . GamesIndustry.biz . en.
  25. Web site: New Dungeons & Dragons Game Sword Coast Legends coming in 2015 . Jared Petty . . February 13, 2015 . February 13, 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200402142531/https://ca.ign.com/articles/2015/02/12/new-dungeons-and-dragons-game-sword-coast-legends-coming-in-2015 . 2 April 2020 . dead.
  26. Web site: Survived By: A MESSAGE TO OUR PLAYERS . March 19, 2019 . May 9, 2019 . May 19, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190519104748/https://www.survivedby.com/news/a-message-to-our-players . dead.
  27. Web site: Digital Extremes announces Soulframe and indie publishing during TennoCon 2022. Connor. Maker. VG 247. July 16, 2022. July 17, 2022.
  28. Web site: Carpenter . Nicole . November 9, 2023 . Wayfinder, Warframe publisher Digital Extremes cuts workers, divests from Wayfinder . November 9, 2023 . Polygon.
  29. Web site: Mark DeLoura . In-Depth: The State Of Game Engines At GDC 2010. gamasutra.com . March 9, 2010 . February 8, 2012.
  30. Web site: Kranzl. Justin. Preview: The Darkness II. May 5, 2011. Stuff.co.nz. September 6, 2011.
  31. Web site: The Steam Awards. store.steampowered.com. en. 2018-10-08.
  32. News: Awards - The Game Awards. The Game Awards. 2018-10-08. en-US. https://web.archive.org/web/20180226060713/http://thegameawards.com/awards/#best-ongoing-game. February 26, 2018. dead.
  33. News: Warframe The Webby Awards. en-US. 2018-10-08.
  34. Web site: Best Marketing Campaign of the Year. https://web.archive.org/web/20181009014111/http://promaxpd.edgesuite.net/mm/flvmedia/1786/o/q/7/oq73h126_cui60y3w_h264_1676K.mp4?cid=1786&aid=3524314&afid=7451861&assetid=3524314. dead. October 9, 2018.
  35. Web site: Canada's Top 100 . Canada's Top 100 Employers: National Competition . Canadastop100.com . October 7, 2011 . February 9, 2012.
  36. Web site: Top Employer: Digital Extremes Ltd.. content.eluta.ca. 2018-10-08.
  37. Web site: Canada's Top 100 . Canada's Top 100 Employers for Young People . Canadastop100.com . September 19, 2011 . February 9, 2012.
  38. Web site: Canada's Top 100 . Financial Post's Ten Best Companies To Work For . Canadastop100.com . February 1, 2011 . March 13, 2012.
  39. Web site: Jody Lundrigan . Twelve Ontario Businesses Named Winners of Business and Export Excellence . Ontario Chamber of Commerce . September 16, 2010 . February 9, 2012.
  40. Web site: London Chamber of Commerce . Business Achievement Awards – Business of the Year Hall of Fame .
  41. Web site: London Free Press . Celebrating City's Best . October 4, 2018 . January 7, 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180107061024/http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2012/03/21/19533386.html/ . dead.