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Introversion Software

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Introversion Software
Tipo Empresa privada
Industria videojuegos
Forma legal Empresa de capital abierto limitada
Fundación 2001
Sede central Inglaterra
Productos Uplink Darwinia DEFCON Multiwinia Subversion Prison Architect
Sitio web Introversion Software


Introversion Software es una empresa de videojuegos del Reino Unido.

Historia

La compañía fue fundada en el 2001 por tres amigos, Chris Delay; Mark Morris; y Thomas Arundel, que se conocieron en los estudios de posgrado de Imperial College London.[1]

La compañía en sus comienzos se autodenominó "el último de los dormitorios de programadores", puesto que el equipo trabajaba desde casa en lugar de desde una oficina - finalmente se mudaron a una oficina mientras trabajaban en su cuarto juego, Multiwinia. Su primer juego, Uplink, fue diseñado y programado casi exclusivamente por Chris, mientras que Mark y Tom se encargaron del marketing, materiales y otros aspectos del 'negocio'. Una pequeña inversión inicial les permitió adquirir CD-Rs y cartuchos de impresora. Las copias iniciales del juego fueron realizadas a mano. La compañía pudo recuperar toda la inversión inicial a las pocas horas de recibir las primeras solicitudes, formándose una gran comunidad y permitiendo al equipo, (junto con un nuevo programador, Andy Bainbridge) , comenzar a trabajar en dos nuevos juegos: Darwinia y DEFCON.

Darwinia fue publicado con buenas críticas y fue reeditado posteriormente via Steam el 14 de Diciembre de 2005. Uplink se añadió a la lista de sus títulos disponibles en Steam en verano de 2006. El 29 de Septiembre de 2006, Introversion Software publicó su tercer juego, DEFCON. Poco después de su lanzamiento, Introversion midió por primera su ancho de banda en terabytes. Tras lanzar DEFCON Introversion comenzó a desarrollar casi de manera inmediata su cuarto juego: Subversion.[2]​ De todos modos, su cuarto juego resultó ser Multiwinia, un juego multijugador secuela de Darwinia y que fue publicado el 19 de Septiembre de 2008. De momento sus ventas no les permitieron "vivir de las rentas" como con DEFCON. A pesar de ello, tuvo buena recepción entre la comunidad y los jugadores indie[¿quién?].

Darwinia and Multiwinia were eventually ported for the Xbox 360. This resulted in the eventual release of Darwinia+, which included both games, to the Xbox Live Arcade on 10 February 2008

Introversion has a relatively minute, but dedicated, following.

Delay of Subversion and announcement of Prison Architect

After the release of Multiwinia in 2008, Introversion then announced the commencement of working on a game called Subversion in December of that year.[2]​ This was followed by a series of blog-posts about the development of the game and its procedurally generated urban areas[3]​ and more recently the game was demoed at the World of Love event in 2010.[4]​ Eventually, in October 2011, after 3 years in development, Subversion was announced as delayed.[5]

During the Humble Indie Bundle release of Introversion games and tech demos of Subversion material, their new game was announced as Prison Architect along with a treasure hunt of information on the new game hidden within the tech demos.[6]

Financial history

After a low-key launch, the critical and (relatively speaking) commercial success of Uplink flushed Introversion with success. A visit to E3 2002 saw the team 'rinse £10k in a week on speedboats and fast cars', but regret soon set in as they watched their income steadily decline, since 'in the games industry, you make 75% of your total revenue for the product in the first 6 months'.[7]​ By Christmas 2002, then-publisher, Strategy First, had stopped paying royalties for Uplink (they would later file a Consumer Proposal AKA Chapter 13 bankruptcy filing, but were then acquired by Silverstar Holdings in early 2005); even with the cash flow from direct sales, Introversion ran out of money in the middle of 2003.[7]​ The company hovered on the edge of bankruptcy, with the team selling most of their worldly goods, as their second project and only hope for funds -- Darwinia -- 'slipped relentlessly'.[7]

Darwinia was eventually released in March 2005, but despite a strong opening weekend and a superb[cita requerida] critical reception, sales soon slipped too low to sustain the company. Within six months, the developers were back on UK government benefits until November, when they contacted Valve Corporation 'on a whim'[8]​ to try to set up a digital distribution deal on their Steam platform. Valve responded enthusiastically and, following a 14 December 2005 online launch, digital sales (which exposed the game to a new, global audience) kept the company going through to the release of their third game, DEFCON.

On 15 September 2006, the day DEFCON pre-orders were made available, Introversion spent their last £1500. Fortuitously, the game 'did much much better than [they] ever imagined' and funds for at least the forthcoming twelve months quickly rolled in to replace it. Now financially secure, the company place their eventual success largely at Valve's feet: 'Steam has made Introversion a commercial success', Tom Arundel is quoted saying.[9]

Introversion's games were featured in a Humble Indie Bundle that launched in November 2011. This "Humble Introversion Bundle" sold 190,261 bundles and generated $779,026.33. Introversion is using the money for the ongoing development of their upcoming game Prison Architect.[10]

Videojuegos

Referencias

  1. [1]
  2. a b c [2]
  3. [3]
  4. [4]
  5. http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/10/17/new-introversion-project-subversion-delayed/
  6. http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/11/30/introversion-humbundle-and-hunt-updates/
  7. a b c "Becoming a proper company....," Tom, Introversion staff.
  8. «Introversion talk Steam». The Steam Review. 15 de julio de 2006. Consultado el 12-04-2007. 
  9. Hyman, Paul (March 2007). «State of the Industry: Digital Distribution». Game Developer (CMP Group). p. 14. 
  10. [5]
  11. "'Last of the Bedroom Programmers' Announce Multiwinia on PC" from Introversion's press release Introversion Announces Multiwinia, 27 February 2007, 2:57 p.m.
  12. "'Welcome to Paradise' Announce official name"
  13. "Darwinia+ - Development Blog"
  14. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-07-11-rezzed-sessions-why-subversion-sucked-and-prison-architect-wont
  15. Introversion Blog

Enlaces externos