Relentless Software

Infobox Company
name = Relentless Software

type = Video Game developer
genre =
foundation = 2003
founder = David Amor & Andrew Eades
location_city = Brighton
location_country = United Kingdom
location =
locations =
area_served =
key_people =
industry = Video games
products = "Buzz! series"
services =
revenue =
operating_income =
net_income =
assets =
equity =
owner =
num_employees =
parent =
divisions =
subsid =
slogan =
homepage = http://www.relentless.co.uk/
footnotes =
intl =

Relentless Software is a British video game company formed in 2003 and primarily known for the "Buzz!" series of video games.

History

Relentless Software was founded by David Amor & Andrew Eades who had previously worked together at the Brighton office of Computer Artworks.

Computer Artworks had been in the process of creating a DJ simulation game for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE), but the company went into receivership in October 2003cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Computer Artworks goes into receivership
work = Eurogamer
publisher =
date = 2003-10-24
url = http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=53590
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2008-08-13] before the title could be completed. Amor and Eades persuaded SCEE that they could set up a company and complete the DJ project for them. Much to their shock, SCEE agreed and Relentless was set up just 36 hours after their meeting with SCEE.cite book| last = Simons| first = Iain| authorlink = Iain Simons| title = Iside Game Design| publisher = Laurence King Publishing| series =| year = 2007| doi = | isbn = 978-1-85669-532-9| pages = pp 107-113]

The company name arose from Amor & Eades ambition to develop video games in a different way to the perceived norms of the industry. They wanted development to be a steady flow of work rather than the more normal cycle of a slow start leading to a project ending with long "crunch" periods. They typed "unstoppable" into an online thesaurus and of the synonyms returned they chose Relentless as the company name.

Whilst Relentless were completing work on the DJ simulator - that had by now been named "DJ: Decks & FX" - they also carried out the conversion of an SCEE published title, "", for the Japanese market. "DJ: Decks & FX" was released in September 2004 and was nominated in the audio category of the 2004 BAFTA awards. More conversion work for SCEE followed, with the conversion of "SingStar Popworld" for the Swedish and Norwegian markets.

"Buzz!"

In 2004 SCEE were approached by a company called SleepyDog who had secured the rights to a large number of music tracks and wanted Sony to use them as the basis of a quiz game. SCEE approached Relentless and asked them to design a quiz game using the music that Sleepydog had the rights for. Relentless ditched the idea Sony had presented them with, a board game on a screen, and instead developed the game along the lines of the player being in a TV studio, actually taking part in a TV quiz show. "" was released in the run-up to Christmas 2005. Initially the game sold poorly, so poorly that Sony considered cancelling further titles in the series, but over Christmas sales dramatically picked up, so much so that "Buzz!: The Music Quiz" eventually sold over 1 million copies.cite web
last = Elliott
first = Phil
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = David Amor - Still Buzzing
work = Gamesindustry.biz
publisher =
date = 2008-04-24
url = http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/david-amor-still-buzzing
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2008-08-13 ]

A sequel, "Buzz! The Big Quiz" quickly followed in March 2006 and its sales kept it in the PlayStation 2 UK top 20 for a whole year.cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Buzz!: The BIG Quiz | work =
publisher =
date =
url = http://www.relentless.co.uk/games/?product=buzzbigquiz
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2008-08-13] In July 2006 Relentless and SCEE were joint winners of two Develop Industry awards. Winning "Best New Intellectual Property" for "Buzz!" and the Best Innovation category for the Buzz buzzers.cite web
last = Loveday
first = Samantha
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Big night for development talent
work =
publisher = www.developmag.com
date = 2006-07-13
url = http://www.developmag.com/news/1175/Big-night-for-development-talent
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2008-08-13] Greater recognition arrived later in the year at the BAFTA Video Games awards, where "Buzz! The Big Quiz", won the BAFTA award for "Best Casual and Social Game".cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Games Nominations 2006
work =
publisher = BAFTA
date = 2006
url = http://www.bafta.org/awards/video-games/nominations/?year=2006
format =
doi =
accessdate =2006-02-01 ]

Relentless' next Buzz! game was ' in April 2007, "The Mega Quiz" was the fourth title in the Buzz! series - the third title, ', had been developed by Kuju Entertainment and released in November 2006. The next game in the series was the movie themed "".

During 2007 Relentless had been trialling an educational version of Buzz! in schools and after a successful trial a full version - "" - was developed in association with the UK Government's Department for Education and Skills (DfES), with the game's 5,000 questions being based on the Key Stage 2 Curriculum that covers children between the ages of 7 and 11 years. [cite web
last = Bramwell
first = Tom
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Buzz!: The Schools Quiz
work = Eurogamer
publisher =
date = 2007-01-11
url = http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=90450
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2007-01-11]

"Buzz!:The Schools Quiz" was released in January 2008 just prior to the March 2008 release of the sixth game in the main series, "", after which Relentless switched its attention away from the PlayStation 2 and towards the PlayStation 3.

"" for the PlayStation 3 was released in July 2008 and was the first "Buzz!" game to feature online play via the internet. The game also features the ability for users to expand the game via the purchase of question packs from the PlayStation Store. Users can also expand the game with questions from the MyBuzz website. The website allows users to create their own quizzes and then to play them, or other people's quizzes, in the "Quiz TV" game itself.

July 2008 also saw the release of the first Buzz! game on a handheld console. "" for the PlayStation Portable was developed jointly by Relentless and Curve Studios.cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Buzz!: Master Quiz
work =
publisher =
date =
url = http://www.relentless.co.uk/games/?product=buzzmsterquiz
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2008-08-12]

The Buzz! series has accumulated total sales of over 8 million.

No crunch

Relentless is notable amongst video game developers in that it never has a crunch period during the development of its games.cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = FEATURE: Relentless, Buzz! and Social Gaming
work = edge-online.com
publisher =
date = 2008-05-08
url = http://www.edge-online.com/magazine/feature-relentless-buzz-and-social-gaming?page=0%2C0
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2008-08-13 ] The company also operates on a 9 to 5 basis with no overtime or weekend working.cite web
last = Fahey
first = Rob
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Focus: Relentless puts its finger on the Buzz!
work =
publisher = gamesindustry.biz
date = 2005-11-10
url = http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/focus-relentless-puts-its-finger-on-the-buzz
format =
doi =
accessdate =2008-08-12 ]

Awards

*2006 BAFTA for "Buzz!: The Big Quiz". Casual and Social Game category
*2006 Develop Award in conjunction with SCEE in the category Best New Intellectual Property for Buzz!
*2006 Develop Award in conjunction with SCEE in the category Best Innovation for Buzz buzzers

Nominations

*2004 BAFTA Nomination in Audio category for"DJ Decks & FX: House Edition"cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Bafta Games Nominations 2004: Audio category
work =
publisher = BAFTA
date = 2004
url = http://www.bafta.org/awards/video-games/nominations/?year=2004
format =
doi =
accessdate =2008-03-13 ]
*2007 Develop Award Nomination for Business Development
*2007 Develop Award Nomination for Independent Developer

Notable games

*""
*""
*""
*""
*""
*""

References

External links

* [http://www.relentless.co.uk Relentless company website]
* [http://www.mybuzzquiz.com MyBuzz website]