The Collective (company)

The Collective, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Newport Beach, California. Founded in 1997 by ex-Virgin Entertainment employees, the company merged with Backbone Entertainment in 2005 to create Foundation 9 Entertainment. Under Foundation 9, The Collective was merged with Shiny Entertainment and into Double Helix Games in October 2007.

The Collective, Inc.
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
Founded1997; 27 years ago (1997)
Founder
  • Douglas Hare
  • Richard Hare
  • Gary Priest
DefunctOctober 9, 2007 (2007-10-09)
FateMerged with Shiny Entertainment
SuccessorDouble Helix Games
Headquarters,
US
ParentFoundation 9 Entertainment (2005–2007)
WebsiteCollectivestudios

History

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The Collective was founded in 1997 by brothers Douglas and Richard Hare, together with Gary Priest, upon leaving Virgin Interactive.[1] Works by The Collective include Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Fallen, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb, Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure, and The Da Vinci Code.

On March 29, 2005, it was announced that The Collective was merging with Backbone Entertainment, another game developer, to form Foundation 9 Entertainment.[2] The Collective's Douglas Hare, Richard Hare and Gary Priest became the new company's co-president, chief creative officer and co-chairman, respectively.[3] On October 9, 2007, Foundation 9 announced that The Collective were being merged with another subsidiary, Shiny Entertainment; both studios had relocated their teams to new 60,000-square-foot (5,600 m2) offices in Irvine, California, from where the merged company would operate under the lead of Shiny's Michael Persson.[4] In March 2008, the new studio was named Double Helix Games.[5]

Games developed

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Year Title Platform(s) Publisher(s) Note(s)
1998 Men in Black: The Game PlayStation Gremlin Interactive Port of a PC game developed by Gigawatt Studio and published by SouthPeak Interactive.
The Game of Life PlayStation Hasbro Interactive Port of a PC game developed by Mass Media.
2000 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Fallen Microsoft Windows, Macintosh Simon & Schuster Interactive Developed using Unreal Engine.
2002 Buffy the Vampire Slayer Xbox Electronic Arts First game developed using the studio's proprietary Slayer Engine, which would be used for every game hereafter.
2003 Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb Xbox, PlayStation 2, Microsoft Windows, OS X LucasArts
2004 Wrath Unleashed Xbox, PlayStation 2 LucasArts
The X-Files: Resist or Serve PlayStation 2 Vivendi Universal Games Only involved in early design work before Black Ops Entertainment took over the project.
2005 Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith Xbox, PlayStation 2 LucasArts
2006 Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure Xbox, PlayStation 2, Microsoft Windows Atari
The Da Vinci Code Xbox, PlayStation 2, Microsoft Windows 2K Games

Cancelled games

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Several games are known to have been in development at the studio before they were cancelled. That includes games based on licenses such as Witchblade,[6] a follow-up to their Indiana Jones title,[7] a game featuring Jonathan Harker from Dracula,[8] and Dirty Harry.

References

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  1. ^ GamesIndustry International (February 10, 2011). "Outplay Entertainment Announcement". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on February 16, 2011. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
  2. ^ Feldman, Curt (March 29, 2005). "The Collective, Backbone laying Foundation 9". GameSpot. Archived from the original on April 17, 2014. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
  3. ^ Jenkins, David (March 29, 2005). "Backbone Entertainment, The Collective To Merge". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on April 14, 2019. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
  4. ^ Hatfield, Daemon (October 9, 2007). "Shiny, Collective Merged into Mega Studio". IGN. Archived from the original on April 28, 2019. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
  5. ^ Boyer, Brandon (March 27, 2008). "Foundation 9 Makes Double Helix Of The Collective, Shiny". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on May 13, 2012. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
  6. ^ "Witchblade Video Game (The Collective) [Xbox – Cancelled]". Unseen64. November 20, 2020. Archived from the original on February 22, 2023. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
  7. ^ "Indiana Jones Trilogy (The Collective) [Cancelled – Xbox, PS2]". Unseen64. February 11, 2021. Archived from the original on February 22, 2023. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
  8. ^ "The Collective Launches Official Harker Website". GamesIndustry.biz. December 20, 2006. Archived from the original on February 22, 2023. Retrieved February 22, 2023.