TT Games
 Logo since 2005 | |
| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 2005 |
| Headquarters | Knutsford, England |
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| Website |
www |
TT Games Ltd is a British video game company. It is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The company was established in 2005 through the merger of developer Traveller's Tales and publisher Giant Interactive Entertainment, subsequently TT Games Publishing. Its other branches include developer TT Fusion and animation studio TT Animation. The company is known for the Lego video game series, which is currently its exclusive focus.
History
Traveller's Tales
Designer Jon Burton founded Traveller's Tales as a young man in 1989. He had worked with graphic artist Andy Ingram on a short game demo for the Commodore Amiga, and took it to publishing company Psygnosis for advice; unexpectedly, Psygnosis was impressed and offered to publish the game. As Traveller's Tales, Burton and Ingram completed the game, a hack and slash adventure titled Leander, which was released in 1991. Leander was a success and established Traveller's Tales as an up and coming British developer.[1]
Subsequently, Psygnosis contracted Traveller's Tales for two games released in 1993: the side-scrolling puzzle game Puggsy and Bram Stoker's Dracula, a tie-in for the film of the same name. Dracula was a project for Sony, which was in the process of buying Psygnosis. The game enabled Traveller's Tales to expand the company and staff and allowed them to start developing games with bigger companies. In 1994, Traveller's Tales developed Mickey Mania for Disney, initiating a long relationship with the company; Disney later hired them to develop tie-in games for many of its properties. Starting in 1995, Sega contracted the company to develop two Sonic the Hedgehog games, Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island and Sonic R. Later projects included various film tie-ins, two Crash Bandicoot games, and originals such as the ambitious Haven: Call of the King.[1]
Merger with Giant Interactive Entertainment
In 2003, The Lego Group's video game division Lego Interactive commenced plans to develop Lego Star Wars: The Video Game, based on the company's licensed Star Wars figures. They hired Traveller's Tales to develop the game. Early in the development, Lego closed its game publishing division, and several former Lego Interactive managers founded their own company, Giant Interactive Entertainment, to finish the project. As work progressed, Burton recognized the potential of the game and the Lego licence, and how effectively Traveller's Tales worked with Giant. Talks began on a potential merger. Lego Star Wars was released in 2005 to positive reviews and very strong sales. The same year, Traveller's Tales purchased Giant Interactive, forming TT Games. Giant Interactive became TT Games Publishing, the company's publishing branch, while Traveller's Tales served as the development division.[1][2]
TT Games continued producing Lego games to considerable success. Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy received several awards and nominations in 2006, including the Best Gameplay Award at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts's 3rd British Academy Games Awards.[1] The company also expanded. In 2007 it acquired a new developer, Embryonic Studios, which became TT Fusion. The same year it also purchased an animation studio.[3][4]
On 8 November 2007, TT Games was acquired by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment purchased TT Games in a deal estimated at £100 million.[2] The company shifted exclusively to making Lego games. In 2015, TT Games released Lego Dimensions, an elaborate toys-to-life game.[5]
References
- 1 2 3 4 Wallis, Alistair (9 November 2006). "Playing Catch Up: Traveller's Tales' Jon Burton". Gamasutra. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
- 1 2 Feddy, Kevin (9 November 2007). "The £100m 'geek'". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
- ↑ Boyes, Emma (4 January 2007). "Traveller's Tales acquires Embryonic". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
- ↑ Boyer, Brandon (31 May 2007). "TT Games Acquires Motion Capture Studio Centroid". Gamasutra. UBM TechWeb. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
- ↑ Webster, Andrew (4 September 2015). "How Lego is using Doctor Who and The Simpsons to create the next big video game". The Verge. Vox Media. Retrieved 12 February 2016.