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Video Games You Might Not Know Were Created In Liverpool
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The Liverpool City Region has a prosperous video games heritage with major Triple-A developers, smaller studios and indies having called the city home. Here are eight video games developed in Liverpool that you might not know where created in The Pool of Talent and gained both national and international attention.
The Playroom (2013)
This delightful Augmented Reality (AR) title was co-developed by Firesprite Studios, who are housed in Wood Street, in the heart of Liverpool City Centre. The Playroom formed part of the Astro Bot series and was a headline title for PlayStation 4 to demonstrate the use of the PlayStation Camera and the new DualShock 4 Controller. The Playroom is an AR video game that shows off the hardware vibrantly; it also showcases the Liverpool-based developer's superb capabilities.
James Bond 007: Blood Stone (2010)
Starring the Liverpudlian James Bond himself, Daniel Craig, this action-packed 3rd person shooter was developed by Bizarre Creations, released in November 2010 and published by Activision. Blood Stone was available on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 with a full-length campaign comprising of seven missions and online multiplayer modes.
Blur (2011)
In this fast-paced, neon-lit racer developed by the now legendary Liverpool developer, Bizarre Creations. The game released in May 2010 and gained exceptional reception from both players and critics, gaining either a rating of 8/10 or 9/10 from some of the most well-respected gaming magazines such as Eurogamer, Game Informer and GameSpot, as well as receiving a Metacritic score of 82%.
A sequel and more expansive franchise was planned for Blur; however, Activision who acquired Bizarre in 2007 closed the studio in February of 2011, after 23 years of gaming excellence from the Liverpudlian games company.
Goat Simulator (2014)
It was developed in collaboration with Liverpool's Lucid Games for the console ports and other UK game developers such as Double Eleven and Coffee Stain Studios. Goat Simulator is an icon of brilliant, co-operative fun; filled with purposely unpatched glitches and goat shenanigans in a chaotic and destructible open-world series.
The game's console port was developed by Lucid Games; a team of Liverpool gaming veterans made up from a selection of staff from Bizarre Creations after its closure in 2011. Their office is located in Elevator Studios in the City Centre's creative district, The Baltic Triangle.
Run Sackboy! Run! (2014)
This mobile-only game was produced by Firesprite and put the player in the role of the adorable PlayStation mascot, Sackboy. The free-to-play game, which forms part of the Little Big Planet franchise, is an endless runner in which the player has to survival increasingly tricky scenarios. It can be digitally downloaded and is available on mobile devices such as Android and iOS and on the PS Vita. The game was released in October 2014, with designed consideration so that in-app-purchases were not essential and could be disabled to control spending on the game.
vTime XR (2015)
Developed and published by vTime, which is owned by parent company Starship Group, both of which, are based in Liverpool. This VR social experience gained international recognition for its innovative use of technology and is available on Samsung Gear VR, Oculus Go, Oculus Rift, Google Daydream, Google Cardboard, Windows Mixed Reality and on the iPhone. The Liverpool-based creators have also made sure you can play vTime without a VR headset.
vTime XR is the first cross-reality social network, supported since its launch in December 2015 which continues to break creative boundaries. The company was founded after the closure of the globally renowned Liverpool-based Psygnosis, later known as 'Studio Liverpool' or 'Sony Studio Liverpool' in 2012. Sony decided to close the Liverpool Studio after 36 years of developing AAA Games (Triple-A Games; the highest quality of video games that can be produced).
Switch Galaxy Ultra (2015)
It was created by the rising games company, Atomicom, led by locals Mike Clarke and Gary Nichols. Atomicom's intergalactic racer puts the player in the helm of a spaceship racing at high speeds and exploring the galaxy. The game launched in 2015 on Steam, PS4 and PS Vita.
The game takes inspiration of arcade-style games in which the player has to 'switch' between the different lanes to weave past a variety of enemies and obstacles whilst collecting resources to develop your technology.
Lemmings (1991)
Developed by the aforementioned Psygnosis, Lemmings, released in 1991, is a gaming icon that often makes the top tier of video games of all time, having sold more than 20 million copies and has often been described as one of the best games of the early '90s. Psygnosis published the original release and developed the ports for the Amstrad CPC, 3DO and the ZX Spectrum.
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