Bugbear Entertainment Oy is a Finnish video game developer based in Helsinki, founded by Janne Alanenpää in 2000. The company is best known for the FlatOut series and Wreckfest. In November 2018, a majority stake of the company was acquired by THQ Nordic.
 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 2000 |
| Founder | Janne Alanenpää |
| Headquarters | , Finland |
Key people | Janne Alanenpää (CEO, creative director) |
Number of employees | 28[1] (2021) |
| Parent | THQ Nordic (2018–present) |
| Website | bugbeargames |
History
editBugbear Entertainment was founded in Helsinki in 2000 by Janne Alanenpää.[2] On 14 November 2018, THQ Nordic announced that they had acquired 90% of Bugbear for an undisclosed sum, leaving open the option to acquire the remaining 10% later on.[3] At this time, Bugbear had 18 employees and was led by co-founder Alanenpää as chief executive officer and creative director.[2] As of March 2020, Bugbear has 28 employees.[4]
All computer games developed by Bugbear are made in the car simulator genre. One of the well-known developments is the FlatOut series of games, the first game of which was released in 2004 for the personal computer and the Xbox and PlayStation 2 game consoles. The games in the series have received various awards from the media and favorable reviews from critics and players. The average review score, according to Metacritic, is 76 out of 100.[5] In addition to the FlatOut series, the company has developed other game projects such as Rally Trophy, a realistic rallying simulator.
Bugbear also released a new game from the Ridge Racer series, Ridge Racer Unbounded, which was released in 2012.[6]
On June 14, 2018, the company released a new game, Wreckfest, previously known under the working title Next Car Game.[7]
Bugbear used its own ROMU game engine (also known as the Bugbear Game Engine) to develop all games.[8]
Games developed
edit| Year | Title | Platform(s) | Publisher(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Rally Trophy | Microsoft Windows | JoWooD Productions |
| 2003 | Tough Trucks | Activision Value | |
| 2004 | FlatOut | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox | Empire Interactive, Vivendi Universal Games |
| 2005 | Glimmerati | N-Gage | Nokia |
| 2006 | FlatOut 2 | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox | Empire Interactive, Vivendi Universal Games, Konami |
| 2007 | FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage | Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360 | Empire Interactive |
| Sega Rally Revo | PlayStation Portable | Sega | |
| 2012 | Ridge Racer Unbounded | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | Namco Bandai Games |
| 2018 | Wreckfest | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch | THQ Nordic |
| TBA | Wreckfest 2 | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S | THQ Nordic |
References
edit- ^ "Embracer Group Annual Report & Sustainability Report 2020 / 2021" (PDF). Embracer Group. 25 August 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 August 2021. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
- ^ a b "THQ Nordic AB (publ) acquires Bugbear Entertainment" (PDF). Embracer Group. 14 November 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 September 2019. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
- ^ Kerr, Chris (14 November 2018). "THQ Nordic acquires Coffee Stain and Bugbear Entertainment". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 14 November 2018. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
- ^ Wingefors, Lars (27 August 2019). "Embracer Group Annual Report 2019/20" (PDF). Cision.
- ^ "FlatOut 2". Metacritic. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
- ^ "Ridge Racer Unbounded colliding with Xbox 360, PS3 and PC in 2012". Engadget. 4 February 2011. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
- ^ Twitter https://twitter.com/bugbeargames/status/518069049671294976. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ "FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS". Bugbear Community. Archived from the original on 6 April 2015. Retrieved 21 January 2022.