History

The company was founded in 2001 by three friends, Chris Delay; Mark Morris; and Thomas Arundel, who met when they were undergraduates at Imperial College London

Imperial College London

Imperial College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom, specialising in science, engineering, business and medicine...

. The company originally labelled itself 'the last of the bedroom programmer

Programmer

A programmer, computer programmer or coder is someone who writes computer software. The term computer programmer can refer to a specialist in one area of computer programming or to a generalist who writes code for many kinds of software. One who practices or professes a formal approach to...

s' due to the team working out of their homes rather than having an office - they finally moved into an office when working on their fourth game, Multiwinia

Multiwinia

Multiwinia is the fourth video game made by Introversion Software, the creators of Uplink, Darwinia and Defcon. It is a real-time strategy game. It is included with the Darwinia+.-Plot:...

. Their first released game, Uplink

Uplink (computer game)

Uplink is a video game released in 2001 by the British software company Introversion Software. On 23 August 2006, it was made available for purchase on Valve's Steam service and on 24 March 2011 it was made available for purchase from the Ubuntu Software Center...

, was programmed and designed almost exclusively by Chris, while Mark and Tom handled marketing, materials and the other 'business' elements. Their small initial investment enabled them to buy CD-R

CD-R

A CD-R is a variation of the Compact Disc invented by Philips and Sony. CD-R is a Write Once Read Many optical medium, though the whole disk does not have to be entirely written in the same session....

s and printer cartridges

Ink cartridge

An ink cartridge or inkjet cartridge is a replaceable component of an inkjet printer that contains the ink that is deposited onto paper during printing....

. Early copies of the game were hand-made. The company was able to fully make back their investment within a few hours of accepting orders. A large community formed and the team, along with a new programmer, Andy Bainbridge, started work on two new games: Darwinia and DEFCON

Defcon (computer game)

DEFCON is a real-time strategy game created by independent British game developer Introversion Software, developers of Darwinia, Multiwinia, and Uplink. The gameplay is reminiscent of the "big boards" that visually represented thermonuclear war in films such as Dr...

.

Darwinia was released to much critical acclaim and was eventually re-released via Steam on 14 December 2005. Uplink has also since joined Darwinia on Steam, as of summer 2006. On 29 September 2006, Introversion Software launched its third game, DEFCON. Shortly after its release, Introversion had measured their bandwidth in terabytes for the first time. Their latest game, Multiwinia, is a multiplayer follow up to Darwinia, and was released on 19 September 2008. Sales have so far failed to live up to the example set by DEFCON. Despite this, it was received well by the community and indie gamers alike.

Introversion has a relatively minute, but dedicated, following.

Financial history

After a low-key launch, the critical and (relatively speaking) commercial success of Uplink flushed Introversion with success. A visit to E3 2002 saw the team 'rinse £10k in a week on speedboats and fast cars', but regret soon set in as they watched their income steadily decline, since 'in the games industry, you make 75% of your total revenue for the product in the first 6 months'. By Christmas 2002, then-publisher, Strategy First

Strategy First

Strategy First is a software company based in Montreal, Canada. Founded in 1988, the company has published numerous well-known games, such as the Disciples series, Jagged Alliance series, Space Empires series, and Galactic Civilizations....

, had stopped paying royalties for Uplink (they would later file a Consumer Proposal

Bankruptcy in Canada

Consumer bankruptcy in Canada is governed by the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act . The legislation is complemented by regulations, as well as directives from the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy that provide guidelines to trustees in bankruptcy on various aspects of the BIA.-Consumer...

AKA Chapter 13 bankruptcy filing

Chapter 13, Title 11, United States Code

Chapter 13 of the United States Bankruptcy Code, codified under Title 11 of the United States Code, governs a form of bankruptcy in the United States that allows individuals to undergo a financial reorganization supervised by a federal bankruptcy court. The goal of Chapter 13 is to enable...

, but were then acquired by Silverstar Holdings in Early 2005); even with the cash flow from direct sales Introversion ran out of money in the middle of 2003. The company hovered on the edge of bankruptcy, with the team selling most of their worldly goods, as their second project and only hope for funds -- Darwinia -- 'slipped relentlessly'.

Darwinia was eventually released in March 2005, but despite a strong opening weekend and a superb critical reception, sales soon slipped too low to sustain the company. Within six months, the developers were back on UK government benefits until November, when they contacted Valve Corporation

Valve Corporation

Valve Corporation is an American video game development and digital distribution company based in Bellevue, Washington, United States...

 'on a whim' to try and set up a digital distribution

Digital distribution

Online distribution, digital distribution, or electronic software distribution is the practice of delivering content without the use of physical media, typically by downloading via the internet directly to a consumer's device. Online distribution bypasses conventional physical distribution media,...

 deal on their Steam platform. Valve responded enthusiastically and, following a 14 December 2005 online launch, digital sales (which exposed the game to a new, global audience) kept the company going through to the release of their third game, DEFCON.

On 15 September 2006, the day DEFCON pre-orders were made available, Introversion spent their last £1500. Fortuitously, the game 'did much much better than [they] ever imagined' and funds for at least the forthcoming twelve months quickly rolled in to replace it. Now financially secure, the company place their eventual success largely at Valve's feet: 'Steam has made Introversion a commercial success', Tom Arundel is quoted saying.

Games

• Uplink
  Uplink (computer game)
  Uplink is a video game released in 2001 by the British software company Introversion Software. On 23 August 2006, it was made available for purchase on Valve's Steam service and on 24 March 2011 it was made available for purchase from the Ubuntu Software Center...
  
  (2001)
• Darwinia (2005)
• DEFCON
  Defcon (computer game)
  DEFCON is a real-time strategy game created by independent British game developer Introversion Software, developers of Darwinia, Multiwinia, and Uplink. The gameplay is reminiscent of the "big boards" that visually represented thermonuclear war in films such as Dr...
  
  (2006)
• Multiwinia
  Multiwinia
  Multiwinia is the fourth video game made by Introversion Software, the creators of Uplink, Darwinia and Defcon. It is a real-time strategy game. It is included with the Darwinia+.-Plot:...
  
  (2008)
• Darwinia+ (2010)
• Subversion (delayed)
• Chronometer (TBA)
• Prison Architect (in development)

External links

• Introversion Software's Web Site