CI Games S.A. (formerly City Interactive S.A.) is a Polish video game developer and publisher based in Warsaw. Founded in 2002, originally as a budget-range game company, CI Games is best known for the Sniper: Ghost Warrior and Lords of the Fallen series.
 | |
| Formerly |
|
|---|---|
| Company type | Public |
| WSE: CIGAMES | |
| Industry | Video games |
| Predecessors |
|
| Founded | 2002 |
| Headquarters | , Poland |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Marek Tymiński (CEO) |
| Products | |
Number of employees | 153 [1] (2024) |
| Subsidiaries | Hexworks[2] |
| Website | cigames.com |
History
editCity Interactive was founded in 2002 through the merger of three video game companies: Lemon Interactive, We Open Eyes and Tatanka.[3] The company originally acted as a developer and publisher of budget-range games.[4] In 2007, City Interactive merged with Oni Games, a third-party publisher formed alongside City Interactive in 2002, and Detalion Art, an adventure game developer founded by Roland Pantoła, Maciej Miąsik, Danuta Sienkowska, Robert Ożóg, Łukasz Pisarek and Krzysztof Bar, when they left LK Avalon.[3] Also in 2007, City Interactive undertook its initial public offering and became a public company listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.[5]
In 2008, City Interactive dropped their budget-range operations, which they wished to underline with the subsequent release of Sniper: Ghost Warrior in 2010.[4] In an interview with magazine MCV, the company stated that the success of the game led them to believe that they had made the right decisions in terms of strategy and product portfolio.[4] By June 2011, City Interactive employed a total of 150 people in its headquarters in Warsaw, its development studios in Rzeszów, Katowice, Poznań and Guildford, and its publishing offices in Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.[5] In 2012, City Interactive's development team adopted the name "CI Games",[3] and City Interactive changed its name entirely to CI Games in 2013.[6]
In February 2018, CI Games shrunk their development staff to 30 people.[7] According to chief executive officer Marek Tymiński, the measure had been taken due to many problems having occurred during the production of Sniper Ghost Warrior 3, even though the game itself had surpassed one million copies sold and had turned a profit for the company in the company's 2017 fiscal year by the time the decision was made.[8] In January 2019, CI Games established a new publishing label, United Label, for independent games. United Label is to help fund indie developers in exchange for a share of the games' revenue.[9]
From 2020 through to 2021, the number of CI Games employees increased significantly, with the current team now over 140 people and growing. Around eighty members of staff are directly involved in game production, with forty of those working on Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2, fifty on Lords of the Fallen, and the remainder forming the QA department.[10]
In January 2024, CI Games laid off 10% of its workforce. Lords of the Fallen developer Hexworks and Sniper Ghost Warrior developer Underdog were also affected.[11] Another 30 employees were laid off in May 2024.[12]
Games
editGames developed
edit- Alien Rage (formerly Alien Fear)
- Armed Forces Corp.
- Art of Murder: FBI Confidential
- Art of Murder 2: Hunt for the Puppeteer
- Art of Murder: The Secret Files
- Art of Murder 3: Cards of Destiny
- Art of Murder: Deadly Secrets
- Battlestrike: Force of Resistance (released as Mortyr III in Eastern Europe)
- Battlestrike: Road to Berlin (also known as WWII: Battlestrike)
- Battlestrike: Shadow of Stalingrad (also known as Battlestrike: Force of Resistance 2)
- Battlestrike: The Siege
- Beauty Factory
- Brain College: 3 Days ZOO Mystery
- Brain College: Aquatica: The sunken city
- Brain College: Ancient Quest of Saqqarah
- Brain College: Aztec Adventures
- Brain College: Blood Ties
- Brain College: Call of Atlantis
- Brain College: Chinese Temple
- Brain College: Coyote's Tales: Sisters of Fire and Water
- Brain College: El Dorado Quest
- Brain College: Herod's Lost Tomb
- Brain College: Lost City of Z
- Brain College: Magic Bootique
- Brain College: Pharaoh's Mystery
- Brain College: Stoneloops of Jurassica
- Brain College: The Mystery of the Mary Celeste
- Brain College: Tropical Lost Island
- Chicken Riot
- Chronicles of Mystery: Curse of the Ancient Temple
- Chronicles of Mystery: Secret of the Lost Kingdom
- Chronicles of Mystery: The Legend of the Sacred Treasure
- Chronicles of Mystery: The Scorpio Ritual
- Chronicles of Mystery: The Tree of Life
- Code of Honor: The French Foreign Legion
- Code of Honor 2: Conspiracy Island
- Code of Honor 3: Desperate Measures
- Combat Wings
- Combat Wings: Battle of Britain
- Combat Wings: Battle of the Pacific
- Combat Wings: Great Battles of WWII (also known as Dogfight 1942)
- Combat Zone: Special Forces
- Cooking Academy
- Cooking Academy 2
- Crime Lab: Body of Evidence
- Enemy Front
- Farm Frenzy
- I Love Beauty: Hollywood Makeover
- I Love Beauty: Make Up Studio
- Jade Rousseau: The Fall of Sant Antonio
- Jet Storm: Modern Dogfights (also known as Jetfighter 2015)
- Jewels of Atlantis
- Jewels of Sahara
- Jewels of the Ages
- Jewels of Tropical Lost Island
- Logic Machines
- Lords of the Fallen (2014)
- Murder in Venice
- Operation Thunderstorm (also known as Mortyr IV: Operation Thunderstorm)
- Party Designer
- Project Freedom (also known as Space Interceptor and Starmageddon 2)
- Redneck Kentucky and the Next Generation Chickens
- Red Baron Ace of the Sky
- SAS: Secure Tomorrow
- Shutter Island
- Smash Up Derby
- Sniper: Art of Victory
- Sniper: Ghost Warrior
- Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2
- Sniper Ghost Warrior 3
- Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts
- Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2
- Sushi Academy
- Tank Combat
- The Chickenator
- The Hell in Vietnam
- The Royal Marines Commando
- Terrorist Takedown
- Terrorist Takedown: Covert Operations
- Terrorist Takedown: Payback
- Terrorist Takedown: War in Colombia
- Terrorist Takedown 2
- Terrorist Takedown 3
- Vampire Moon: The Mystery of the Hidden Sun
- Wings of Honour
- Wings of Honour: Battles of the Red Baron
- Wolfschanze II
- WWII: Pacific Heroes
Games published
edit- Aggression: Reign Over Europe
- Airborne Troops (developed by Widescreen Games)
- Alarm for Cobra 11: Crash Time II (developed by Synetic)
- Alcatraz (developed by Silden)
- Apassionata
- Dark Sector (PC port; developed by Digital Extremes)
- Dusk 12: Deadly Zone (developed by Orion Games)
- Farm Frenzy (Nintendo DS Port; developed by Alawar Entertainment)
- Heat Wave (developed by Nemesys Games)
- Hidden Target (developed by Gingerbread Studios, also known as Jonathan Kane: The Protector and The Mark 2)
- Lords of the Fallen (2023)
- MotorM4X: Offroad Extreme (developed by The Easy Company)
- Pirate Hunter (developed by ND games and D10 Soft)
- Pyroblazer (developed by Candella Studios and Eipix)
- RTL Biathlon 2009
- RTL Winter Sports 2009
- SCAR (Squadra Corse Alfa Romeo)
- Specnaz 2 (developed by BYTE Software)
- Street Racer: Europe
- The History Channel: Great Battles of Rome
- TrackMania Turbo: Build to Race (Nintendo DS port)
- Ubersoldier II (developed by Burut Creative Team, also known as Crimes of War)
- Wolfschanze 1944 (developed by Calaris)
References
edit- ^ "Management Report for H1 2024" (PDF). CI Games. 27 September 2024. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
- ^ Wilson, Jason (8 September 2020). "CI Games announces Hexworks studio, which is finishing Lords of the Fallen 2". VentureBeat. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
- ^ a b c Wolf, Mark J. P. (2015). Video Games Around the World. MIT Press. pp. 411, 417, 421. ISBN 9780262527163.
- ^ a b c Dring, Christopher (8 July 2011). "INTERVIEW: Marek Tyminski/Jon Goddard, City Interactive". MCV.
- ^ a b IGN Staff (28 June 2011). "City Interactive Ships 'Sniper: Ghost Warrior' For PlayStation 3". IGN.
- ^ Hall, Charlie (12 November 2014). "Following success of Lords of the Fallen, CI Games has two more AAA titles on the way". Polygon.
- ^ Taylor, Haydn (19 February 2018). "Significant downsizing at CI Games despite profitable 2017". GamesIndustry.biz.
- ^ Kerr, Chris (19 February 2018). "Polish studio CI Games 'significantly downsizes' dev team". Gamasutra.
- ^ Kidwell, Emma (21 January 2019). "CI Games establishes United Label, a new publishing label dedicated to indies". Gamasutra. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
- ^ Kucharczyk, Katarzyn (25 May 2021). "CI Games zwiększyło zyski. Akcje drożeją" [CI Games increased profits. The company's shares are going up.]. Parkiet (in Polish). Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
- ^ Batchelor, James (18 January 2024). "CI Games lays off 10% of staff". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
- ^ Batchelor, James (10 May 2024). "Around 30 people laid off in CI Games' final round of job cuts". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 11 May 2024.