Playdead Studios
Encyclopedia
Playdead is an independent video game developer
based in Copenhagen, Denmark. The company was founded in 2006 by Arnt Jensen and Dino Patti. The two created the company to bring to fruition their premiere title, Limbo
, a game for the Xbox Live Arcade
that was released in 2010 to high critical praise. After a year of Xbox Live exclusivity, Playdead released their ports of the game for the PlayStation 3
via the PlayStation Network, and for Microsoft Windows
.
Jensen, originally a developer at IO Interactive
, drew sketches in 2004 that led him to the idea for Limbo. Having tried programming the game himself, he eventually sought for additional help through an art-based teaser for the game in 2006. This led to a meeting between Jensen and Patti. Patti soon realized the project was larger than the two of them, and together they founded the company, initially using their private funds and government grants before obtaining larger investments. Playdead eventually came to have eight employees during Limbos development, with temporary increases of up to 16 through freelancers. Limbos success led them to be able to reacquire the company back from investors, and making Playdead fully owned by itself.
According to Patti, as of October 2010, Playdead is currently working on its second game, which they expect to be similar in gameplay to Limbo. While Limbo was purposely made exclusive to the Xbox 360 for the first year, Playdead will consider wider distribution with this new title. The game will utilize the Unity
engine, opting for the existing solution instead of their custom-built engine they had created for Limbo, to reduce their efforts. According to an August 2011 interview with Patti, the title's development cycle will take about three and a half years.
Independent video game development
Independent video game development is the process of creating video games without the financial support of a video game publisher. While large firms can create independent games, they are usually designed by an individual or a small team of as many as ten people, depending on the complexity of the...
based in Copenhagen, Denmark. The company was founded in 2006 by Arnt Jensen and Dino Patti. The two created the company to bring to fruition their premiere title, Limbo
Limbo (video game)
Limbo is a puzzle-platform video game and the premiere title of independent Danish game developer Playdead. The game was released in July 2010 as a platform exclusive title on Xbox Live Arcade, and was later re-released as part of a retail game pack along with Trials HD and Splosion Man in April...
, a game for the Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade is a type of video game download distribution available primarily in a section of the Xbox Live Marketplace, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360, that focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent game developers...
that was released in 2010 to high critical praise. After a year of Xbox Live exclusivity, Playdead released their ports of the game for the PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
via the PlayStation Network, and for Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
.
Jensen, originally a developer at IO Interactive
IO Interactive
IO Interactive is a Danish video game development company currently owned by Square Enix. The company was founded in September 1998 by the Reto-Moto development group. To date their most popular franchise is the critically acclaimed Hitman series...
, drew sketches in 2004 that led him to the idea for Limbo. Having tried programming the game himself, he eventually sought for additional help through an art-based teaser for the game in 2006. This led to a meeting between Jensen and Patti. Patti soon realized the project was larger than the two of them, and together they founded the company, initially using their private funds and government grants before obtaining larger investments. Playdead eventually came to have eight employees during Limbos development, with temporary increases of up to 16 through freelancers. Limbos success led them to be able to reacquire the company back from investors, and making Playdead fully owned by itself.
According to Patti, as of October 2010, Playdead is currently working on its second game, which they expect to be similar in gameplay to Limbo. While Limbo was purposely made exclusive to the Xbox 360 for the first year, Playdead will consider wider distribution with this new title. The game will utilize the Unity
Unity (game engine)
Unity is an integrated authoring tool for creating 3D video games or other interactive content such as architectural visualizations or real-time 3D animations. Unity's development environment runs on Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X, and the games it produces can be run on Windows, Mac, Xbox 360,...
engine, opting for the existing solution instead of their custom-built engine they had created for Limbo, to reduce their efforts. According to an August 2011 interview with Patti, the title's development cycle will take about three and a half years.