- Big Fish Games
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Big Fish Games, Inc. 
Type Private Industry Video game
Computer softwareFounded Seattle (2002) Headquarters Seattle, Washington, United States Key people Paul Thelen, Chairman/CSO
Jeremy Lewis, President/CEOProducts Video games (Casual games) Employees 400 (2009) Website bigfishgames.com Big Fish Games is a provider of Internet media delivery software and game services based in Seattle, Washington. The company was founded in 2002 by Paul Thelen [1], and currently employs more than 400 people. Most of Big Fish Games' titles can be played for free in trial form, with the full version available for a fee. Big Fish Games has several lines of business including distribution of downloadable casual games, free online browser games, game development and game licensing, and most recently a social networking site for casual game players to share opinions and information about games.
Contents
History
Big Fish Games was founded by ex-RealNetworks executive Paul Thelen in 2002 with $10,000[2]. Thelen was the Group Product Manager that launched the RealArcade games service for RealNetworks.[3] In 2009, the company announced the opening of their new European headquarters in Cork, Ireland.
Big Fish Studios game development[4]
In May 2002, the company was founded as a game development studio and experienced early success with titles like Mahjong Towers, Top Ten Solitaire and Word Wizard. Big Fish Studios now releases 12 to 15 original titles per year, developed using its own proprietary game engine that supports both DirectX and OpenGL.[5]. Big Fish Studios also publishes titles from outside developers and controls online distribution of several hit franchises including Fish Tycoon and Virtual Villagers.
Games developed by Big Fish Studios include:
- Drawn: The Painted Tower (September 5, 2009)
- Drawn: Dark Flight (August 31, 2010)
- Haunted Hotel (Date Unknown)
- Haunted Hotel II: Believe the Lies (Date Unknown)
- Haunted Hotel III:
- Hidden Expedition: Amazon (June 20, 2008)
- Hidden Expedition: Devil's Triangle (October 24, 2009)
- Hidden Expedition: Everest (June 1, 2007)
- Hidden Expedition: Titanic (July 21, 2006)
- Life Quest (April 29, 2010)
- Mystery Case Files: 13th Skull (November 25, 2010)
- Mystery Case Files: Dire Grove (November 25, 2009)
- Mystery Case Files: Huntsville (November 14, 2005)
- Mystery Case Files: Madame Fate (November 6, 2007)
- Mystery Case Files: Prime Suspects (April 6, 2006)
- Mystery Case Files: Ravenhearst (December 14, 2006)
- Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst (November 27, 2008)
- Mystery Case Files: The Malgrave Incident (June 29, 2011)
- Mystery Chronicles: Murder Among Friends (Date Unknown)
- Mystery in London (December 14, 2007)
- Mystic Inn (April 12, 2006)
Digital distribution
Big Fish Games distributes over 2500 casual downloadable games for over 500 developers.[6] According to Big Fish Games, the company serves over 1,500,000 downloads per day.[7] The service offers downloadable casual games with a try-before-you-buy model where consumers can play games for free for 60 minutes, then have the option to purchase that game to keep playing.
Online games
Big Fish Games used to distribute online web browser games that were free to play and advertising supported. There were over 80 games to play. The games all included chat and players earned tokens that could be used to enter lotteries to win cash prizes and free games. Just over 20 of Big Fish Games community games were ported to Big Sea Games, a sister site that was free to play with no advertising. It was announced that Big Sea Games would be closed on 1 September 2010 after just over a year. [1] Big Fish Games also operated the highly popular on-line game Faunasphere, accessible both from its own site and through Facebook. It was announced on 15th February 2011 that the Faunasphere would be shutting down on 15th March, due to high operating costs.
Club Membership
Big Fish Games operates a Game Club subscription that is optionally activated when a customer purchases one of their full-version games. The subscription is billed as a monthly charge, and can be canceled at any time.
References
- ^ "Big Fish Games Press Room". Big Fish Games. unknown. http://pressroom.bigfishgames.com/about_history.asp. Retrieved 2011-05-23.
- ^ "Big Fish Games Press Room". Big Fish Games. unknown. http://pressroom.bigfishgames.com/about_execs.asp. Retrieved 2011-05-23.
- ^ Reese, Heather (2005-09-09). "Thelen Worked Through Illness to Launch Big Fish". Puget Sound Business Journal. http://seattle.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2005/09/12/focus4.html. Retrieved 2009-10-25.
- ^ "Big Fish Games presents the Big Fish Games collection". Big Fish Games. 2011-07-24. http://www.bigfishgames.com/download-games/developers/149/index.html. Retrieved 2011-07-24.
- ^ "Chris Campbell, Brian Thompson, Peter Yiap interview". Adventure Classic Gaming. 2010-01-23. http://www.adventureclassicgaming.com/index.php/site/interviews/537/. Retrieved 2010-02-18.
- ^ Takahashi, Dean (2010-01-12). "Big Fish Games and PlayFirst team up for online game distribution". VentureBeat. http://venturebeat.com/2010/01/12/big-fish-and-playfirst-team-up-in-online-game-distribution-deal/. Retrieved 2011-05-23.
- ^ "People and Big Fish Games Launch Exclusive Partnership". IGN.com. 2009-07-30. http://games.ign.com/articles/100/1009221p1.html. Retrieved 2009-10-25.
External links
Categories:- Mac software companies
- Companies based in Seattle, Washington
- Companies established in 2002
- Video game companies of the United States
- Video game developers
- Social networking services
- Casual games
- Big Fish Games games
- Browser-based game websites
- Privately held companies based in Washington
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