Neon Giant AB is a Swedish video game developer headquartered in Uppsala, Sweden.[2] It was founded by Tor Frick, Arcade Berg, Jonathan Heckley and Erik Gloersen in 2018.

Neon Giant AB
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
FoundedApril 2018; 6 years ago (2018-04)
Founder
  • Tor Frick
  • Arcade Berg
  • Jonathan Heckley
  • Erik Gloersen
Headquarters,
Sweden
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
OwnerAmplifier Game Invest (28%)[1]
Members11
ParentKrafton (2022–present)
Websiteneongiant.se

History

edit

Neon Giant was founded in April 2018 as an independent venture by former AAA employee game developers Tor Frick, Arcade Berg, Jonathan Heckley and Erik Gloersen. With the support of investor company Goodbye Kansas (now known as Amplifier Game Invest),[3] Neon Giant received an initial investment of 1,000,000 kr (approximately $110,000).[2][4] Upon investing in the company, Amplifier Game Invest CEO Per-Arne Luundberg said — "Neon Giant consists of a real dream team that not only has enormous experience, they also have an incredibly efficient working process —I'm convinced that their first release will be a milestone in Swedish game development".[5] The founders had previously worked on popular games such as Bulletstorm, Far Cry 3, Gears of War, Wolfenstein and Doom.[5]

On 28 June 2018, Neon Giant were recipients of one of 37 developers grants offered by Epic Games to promising developers working with Unreal Engine 4. They were awarded between $5,000 and $50,000 based on their work on an unannounced title "set in a brand new cyberpunk world".[6]

In May 2020, Neon Giant announced their debut game, The Ascent.[7] It is a cyberpunk themed action role-playing game which was released on 29 July 2021.[8] The Neon Giant team consists of 11 people.[9]

On 11 November 2022, South Korean video game publisher Krafton announced that it planned to acquire Neon Giant for an undisclosed amount - which was scheduled to begin on 14 December.[10][11]

Games developed

edit
Title Year Platform(s)
The Ascent 2021 Microsoft Windows, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5

References

edit
  1. ^ "Annual Report 2021/2022" (PDF). Embracer Group. 8 July 2022. p. 138. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
  2. ^ a b Novac, Dragos. "Neon Giant secured investment from Goodbye Kansas Game Invest for launching a new gaming studio in Uppsala". Nordic 9. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  3. ^ Novac, Dragos. "Amplifier Game Invest". Nordic 9. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  4. ^ "Ex-Wolfenstein, Bulletstorm devs forming new studio Neon Giant". GamesIndustry.biz. 21 May 2018. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  5. ^ a b "Neon Giant is a new studio comprised of ex-Wolfenstein and Bulletstorm devs". Destructoid. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  6. ^ "Epic Games Announces $1 Million in Unreal Dev Grants". Unreal Engine. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  7. ^ Shea, Brian. "Indie Studio Neon Giant Announces Cyberpunk-Themed Co-op Shooter The Ascent For Xbox Series X". Game Informer. Archived from the original on 7 May 2020. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  8. ^ "The Ascent | Xbox". Xbox.com. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  9. ^ How The Ascent Became an Xbox Series X Launch Exclusive – IGN First - IGN, 12 May 2020, retrieved 23 November 2020
  10. ^ Batchelor, James (11 November 2022). "Krafton profits up to $171.5 million despite lowest quarter since 2020". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
  11. ^ "Krafton acquired Neo Giant". Twitter.com. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
edit