Black Rock Studio

Black Rock Studios Limited was a video game developer based in Brighton, England. It was a division of Disney Interactive Studios. The studio was founded by Tony Beckwith in 1998 as Pixel Planet. It was acquired by the Climax Group in 1999 and was renamed Climax Brighton. In 2004, it became Climax Racing, as the Climax Group rebranded its studios.[2] On 28 September 2006, it was acquired by DIS (formerly known as Buena Vista Games in that time) and was eventually renamed Black Rock Studio in 2007.[3] The last game the studio developed for the Climax Group was MotoGP '07, which was completed after its acquisition by Buena Vista Games. The name is derived from a district in Brighton.[4] In early 2011, the company faced lay-offs and was forced to abandon sequels for Pure and Split/Second. Despite good reviews for both games, Disney turned down both sequels to focus on freemium content.[5]

Black Rock Studios Limited
Formerly
  • Pixel Planet (1998-1999)
  • Climax Studios Limited (1999-2003)
  • Climax Studios (Brighton) Limited (2003-2004)
  • Climax Driving Limited (2004)
  • Climax Racing Limited (2004-2006)
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
Founded1998
FounderTony Beckwith
Defunct2011[1]
Headquarters
Brighton
,
United Kingdom
OwnerThe Walt Disney Company
Number of employees
300
Parent
WebsiteOfficial website

On 30 June 2011, Disney Interactive Studios announced their intent to enter a consultation process on the proposal to close the studios. It was later confirmed that the studio has been shut down and that several 300 ex-employees have formed new studios, including Studio Gobo, Roundcube Entertainment, ShortRound Games, and Boss Alien.[6]

Games
YearTitlePlatform(s)
as Climax Brighton
2002Gumball 3000PlayStation 2
2002MotoGP: Ultimate Racing TechnologyWindows, Xbox
2002Rally Fusion: Race of ChampionsGameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox
2003ATV: Quad Power Racing 2GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox
2003MotoGP: Ultimate Racing Technology 2Windows, Xbox
2003The Italian JobGameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox
2003Hot Wheels: World RaceGameCube, PlayStation 2, Windows
as Climax Racing
2004ATV Offroad Fury 3PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable
2004Crash 'n' BurnXbox, PlayStation 2
2004Hot Wheels: Stunt Track ChallengeXbox, PlayStation 2, Windows
2005MotoGP: Ultimate Racing Technology 3Windows, Xbox
2006MotoGP '06Xbox 360
2006ATV Offroad Fury 4PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable
2007MotoGP '07Windows, Xbox 360
as Black Rock Studio
2008PurePlayStation 3, Windows, Xbox 360
2010Split/SecondPlayStation 3, Windows, Xbox 360

References
  1. "Split/Second dev Black Rock to close". July 2011.
  2. "Black Rock Studio".
  3. Michael French (2007-07-06). "Studio unveils new identity". MCV. Archived from the original on 2007-12-06. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
  4. French, Michael (2007-07-06). "Climax Racing Studio unveils new identity". MCV. Archived from the original on 2007-12-06. Retrieved 2009-01-11.
  5. Lay-offs at Split/Second Studio - Eurogamer
  6. Robert Purchese (2011-07-01). "Split/Second dev Black Rock to close". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved 2011-07-01.
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