Foundation 9 Entertainment

Foundation 9 Entertainment (sometimes abbreviated as F9E) is an entertainment products developer, which works on properties for multiple media, including video games, comic books, film and television series. The company claims to be the largest independent game developer in the world, and has more than 800 employees working in its various studios in California, Massachusetts, Washington, Texas, Oregon, Vancouver, Canada, Sheffield, UK, and Pune, India.

History

With divisions founded as early as 1992, Foundation 9 Entertainment has grown through a number of strategic mergers and acquisitions. It owns 8 core brands and 8 separate studio locations, as well as a minority stake in a production management company.

The company's acquisitions over the years include The Collective, Shiny Entertainment, Backbone, Pipeworks, ImaginEngine, Digital Eclipse and Circle of Confusion.Amongst its more recent acquisitions are Amaze Entertainment on November 14, 2006 [ [http://gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=11704 Gamasutra - Foundation 9 Acquires Amaze Studios ] ] , and Sumo Digital on August 17, 2007. [ [http://www.gamespot.com/news/6176808.html Foundation 9 wrestles with Sumo Digital - Wii News at GameSpot ] ]

Digital Eclipse is not actually a studio, and all games under the Digital Eclipse brand are developed at the Backbone Studios. Digital Eclipse was originally one of the constituent companies that came together to form Backbone, the progenitor of F9E.

Also, unlike most of F9E's other studios, which generally specialize in software development, Circle of Confusion is a production and management company that represents creative staff in the entertainment industries.

Two of its California-based studios, The Collective and Shiny, were merged in late 2007 and relocated to a new 60,000 square foot headquarters in Irvine. The resultant studio was eventually named Double Helix in early 2008. [ [http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/double-helix-is-new-foundation-9-studio Double Helix is new Foundation 9 studio] ]

For the most part, Foundation 9 allows each acquired entity to continue to operate their separate studios, and to pursue projects of their own choosing. Through these studios and core bands, F9E has worked with some of the largest names in game publishing, including Eidos, Hudson, Midway, Majestic Entertainment, Electronic Arts, Activision, Vivendi, Take-Two Interactive, Sega, and Konami.

The company was previously helmed by CEO Jon Goldman, who came from Backbone (and was founder of ImaginEngine), and COO David Mann who was a co-founder of Amaze. As of March 17, 2008, James North-Hearn, one of Sumo Digital's founders, has assumed the CEO position. [ [http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/north-hearn-named-foundation-9-ceo North-Hearn named Foundation 9 CEO] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.f9e.com/ Foundation 9 Entertainment site]