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Frontier Developments

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Frontier Developments plc.
FormerlyFrontier Developments Limited (1994–2013)
Company typePublic limited company
AIM: FDEV
ISINGB00BBT32N39
IndustryVideo games
Founded28 January 1994; 30 years ago (1994-01-28)
FounderDavid Braben
HeadquartersCambridge Science Park,
Cambridge
,
England
Key people
Products
RevenueIncrease £114 million[1] (2022)
Increase £41.1 million[1] (2022)
Decrease £1.5 million[1] (2022)
Number of employees
790 [2] (31 May 2022)
Subsidiaries
  • Complex Games
Websitefrontier.co.uk

Frontier Developments plc. is a British video game developer[3] founded by David Braben in January 1994 and based at the Cambridge Science Park in Cambridge, England.[4] Frontier develops management simulators Planet Coaster and Planet Zoo, and has produced several games in David Braben's Elite series, including Elite Dangerous. The company takes its name from the earliest titles in the Elite series with which it was involved, a port of Frontier: Elite II and development of Frontier: First Encounters. In 2013, the company was listed on the AIM segment of the London Stock Exchange. It published third-party games under the Frontier Foundry label between 2019 and 2022.

History

[edit]

Frontier Developments' first game was the 1993 Amiga CD32 port of Frontier: Elite II followed by Frontier: First Encounters, second sequel to the 1984 game Elite by Acornsoft. David Braben owned all rights to Elite assigned to the company in 2008.

Between 2005 and 2011, Frontier developed The Outsider, an action-adventure game set in Washington DC that Braben said would advance video game storytelling.[5] The Outsider was cancelled in January 2011 after it was dropped by the publisher, Codemasters, leading to nearly 30 staff layoffs.[6][7]

Frontier had been planning a new Elite sequel, under the working title Elite 4, since 1998. The company completed a successful Kickstarter campaign at the end of 2012, where the new sequel's name Elite: Dangerous was revealed. Early-access versions of the game have been playable by backers since December 2013. The full game was released to PC on 16 December 2014.

Frontier Developments has made many other games, including Dog's Life, Thrillville, and RollerCoaster Tycoon 3. The company also made games for the Wallace and Gromit franchise, and has released Wallace & Gromit in Project Zoo, and a tie-in game for Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. In 2008, Frontier released LostWinds, a launch title for Nintendo's WiiWare platform. It was followed up with a sequel in 2009, entitled LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias. In 2010, Frontier developed Kinectimals for Microsoft's Kinect controller on the Xbox 360. In 2011 Kinect Disneyland Adventures and Kinectimals: Now With Bears were developed, along with ports of LostWinds for iOS and Kinectimals for iOS and Windows Phone. In 2012, Frontier released Coaster Crazy, and started to work on Elite: Dangerous Kickstarter, which successfully closed at the start of 2013. In 2013, Frontier released Xbox One and Xbox 360 exclusive Zoo Tycoon, published by Microsoft Studios, and launched backers alpha for Elite: Dangerous in December. In 2015 the company released Screamride, a theme park construction and management simulation game for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One. The company has recently released Planet Coaster, a construction and management simulation video game similar to the RollerCoaster Tycoon franchise. The game is the second major self-published franchises from Frontier along with the Elite series. Frontier announced that they will begin self-publishing all their future games, starting with Planet Coaster.[8]

Frontier opened a North American studio in August 2012 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada under the name Frontier Developments Inc. and headed by David Walsh.[9] It closed in January 2015.

On 3 January 2017 TMZ reported that the company sued Atari for not paying the company enough for royalties for their game RollerCoaster Tycoon 3; Frontier reported that they only received $1.17 million when they needed $3.37 million. David Walsh confirmed the report in a GameSpot interview, stating that they had previously attempted to resolve the issue without legal action since April 2016.[10] On 6 February 2017 Frontier announced that they had acquired licensing rights from Universal Pictures to be used in their third self-published title, an "enduring movie franchise of global renown".[11] This was later announced to be Jurassic World Evolution, which released on 12 June 2018.[12] On 26 July 2017 the company announced Frontier Expo 2017, a press and community event focusing on Elite: Dangerous, Planet Coaster, and Jurassic World Evolution. The event took place on 7 October 2017 at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London, UK.[13] In July 2017, Tencent, a Chinese investment company, bought a 9% share in the company.[14]

On 10 March 2020, Frontier announced that they had signed an agreement with Formula One to develop and release several management simulation games based on the F1 license. In this agreement, Frontier will release four games, starting from F1 Manager 2022 in 2022.[15] On 10 June 2021, Frontier announced Jurassic World Evolution 2 a sequel to their 2018 park builder game would be releasing in late 2021.[16] On 10 Mar 2022, Frontier announced they were cancelling all development of their latest version of Elite Dangerous, Odyssey, on consoles.[17]

On 10 August 2022, Frontier announced David Braben was to step down from the position of CEO and take on a newly established executive role of President and Founder. Jonny Watts who has been with the company for 24 years, the last decade of which in the position of Chief Creative Officer was to become the new CEO. The changes were effective immediately. It was also announced that David Gammon would be retiring from his role as Chairman in December 2022 and David Wilton would take on this role at that time.[18] On 2 November 2022, Frontier announced that they had completed an acquisition of Complex Games following on from the success of Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters which was published under the Frontier Foundry label six months prior.[19]

On 17 October 2023, Frontier announced it would lay off an ‘unknown number of staff’ in an organisational review.[20]

Publishing

[edit]

In June 2019, Frontier announced that it would begin publishing games from third-party developers under a new label named Frontier Publishing. At Gamescom 2020, Frontier announced that their publishing label would be renamed to "Frontier Foundry", and that it would publish Struggling from Chasing Rats in 2020, and Lemnis Gate from Ratloop Games in 2021.[21][22] They would also publish an upcoming project from Haemimont Games.[23] This game was revealed to be named Stranded: Alien Dawn which initially released as an Early Access title on Steam in October 2022, with a full release anticipated during 2023.[24]

On 13 June 2021, Frontier announced Lemnis Gate would be released on 3 August 2021 with an open beta being scheduled for July 2021.[25] On 3 June 2021 during the Games Workshop Warhammer Skulls event, Frontier announced they would be publishing a reboot to the 1998 turn based game Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate named Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters. The reboot is to be developed by Canadian developer Complex Games and published under the Frontier Foundry label. It is set to release in 2022.[26]

Additionally Frontier announced a sequel to FAR: Lone Sails named FAR: Changing Tides, developed by Okomotive and published under the Frontier Foundry label. The game was released in March 2022.[27] Deliver Us Mars, set ten years after the events of Deliver Us The Moon, was announced as part of the Future Games Show Spring Showcase on March 24, 2022.[28] It features a new protagonist who reactivates her companion robot after an apparent ship crash on the planet of Mars. Deliver Us Mars is set to launch on both Epic Games Store and Steam PC storefronts, as well as Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, and PS4 consoles.[28] The Great War: Western Front, a Real Time Strategy game developed by Petroglyph Games was announced as part of the Future Games Show during Gamescom on August 24, 2022.[29] It launched on the Epic Games Store and Steam PC storefronts in March 2023.

On 14 June 2023 it was announced that a review into the performance of Frontier Foundry concluded to cease all future third party publishing efforts due to disappointing financial performance, with most games releasing under the label failing to become profitable within one year of release. It was stated that games already released would continue to be supported but no further games would release under the label. Instead future funding that was to be allocated for this purpose would be diverted to producing games internally.[30]

Frontier released Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin on November 17, 2023.[31] Realms of Ruin flopped with a drop in concurrent players and lackluster sales.[31] Frontier shares plunged 20%.[31] Attempts to widen their game portfolio didn't achieve the anticipated success in the past 5 years.[31] Frontier stated it will refocus on creative management simulation (CMS) games.[31]

On 15 March 2024, Frontier announced that the publishing rights to RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 would be sold back to Atari, Inc.[32] This was confirmed by their parent Atari SA on 2 April.[33]

Technology

[edit]

Cobra engine

[edit]

Frontier began development of an in house game engine in 1988.[34]

Cobra uses C++ as the programming language.[35] The development tools are created with C# / WPF / Forms and C++.[35] Lua is used for gameplay features.[35] It supports many platforms such as Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, iOS and Android devices.[36] It supports cross-platform by allowing code and resources on PC to be compiled and run on other platforms.[36][37] The game code and resources are isolated from the hardware by a common platform-neutral core API.[36] It enables optimal use of a multi-processor, multi-threaded environment.[36] There is a framework for rapid development of tools to view, tweak and review changes to resources on platforms in live sessions.[36] The 4th generation of Cobra has cloud-based analytics for data-driven games.[37] The proprietary tools, tech and pluggable modules enable the development a wide variety of games on tablets, smartphones, PC and consoles without making employees unable to contribute.[38]

Games

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Games developed

[edit]
Year Title Publisher(s) Platform(s)
1995 Frontier: First Encounters GameTek MS-DOS, Windows, Classic Mac OS, Linux
1996 Darxide Sega 32X
1998 V2000 Grolier Interactive Windows, PlayStation
2000 Infestation Ubi Soft
2003 Darxide EMP Frontier Developments Pocket PC
RollerCoaster Tycoon (Xbox port) Infogrames Interactive Xbox
Wallace & Gromit in Project Zoo BAM! Entertainment Windows, Xbox, PlayStation 2, GameCube
Dog's Life Sony Computer Entertainment PlayStation 2
RollerCoaster Tycoon 2: Wacky Worlds Infogrames Interactive Windows
RollerCoaster Tycoon 2: Time Twister Atari Interactive
2004 RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 Atari Interactive (PC), Frontier Developments (iOS) Windows, OS X, iOS
2005 RollerCoaster Tycoon 3: Soaked! Atari Interactive Windows, OS X
RollerCoaster Tycoon 3: Wild!
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit Konami PlayStation 2, Xbox
2006 Thrillville LucasArts
Atari Europe 		PlayStation 2, Xbox, PlayStation Portable
2007 Thrillville: Off the Rails LucasArts PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS, Wii, Windows
2008 LostWinds Frontier Developments iOS, Wii, Windows
2009 LostWinds 2: Winter of the Melodias
2010 Kinectimals Microsoft Game Studios Xbox 360, Windows Phone, iOS, Android
2011 Kinectimals: Now with Bears! Microsoft Studios
Kinect: Disneyland Adventures Xbox 360
2012 Coaster Crazy Frontier Developments iOS
2013 Zoo Tycoon Microsoft Studios Xbox 360, Xbox One
Coaster Crazy Deluxe Frontier Developments Wii U, iOS
2014 Tales from Deep Space Amazon Game Studios Fire OS, iOS
Elite: Dangerous Frontier Developments Windows, OS X, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
2015 Screamride Microsoft Studios Xbox 360, Xbox One
Elite Dangerous: Horizons Frontier Developments Windows, Xbox One, PlayStation 4
2016 Elite Dangerous: Arena Windows, Xbox One
Planet Coaster Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S
2018 Jurassic World Evolution Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
2019 Planet Zoo Windows, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S
2021 Elite Dangerous: Odyssey[39]
Jurassic World Evolution 2[16] Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S
2022 F1 Manager 2022[40]
2023 F1 Manager 2023[41]
Warhammer: Age of Sigmar – Realms of Ruin[42] Windows, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S
2024 F1 Manager 2024[43] Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S
Planet Coaster 2[44] Windows, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S

Games published under the Frontier Foundry label

[edit]
Year Title Developer(s) Platform(s)
2020 Struggling Chasing Rats Games Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
RollerCoaster Tycoon 3: Complete Edition[45] Frontier Developments Windows, Nintendo Switch
2021 Lemnis Gate Ratloop Games Canada Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S
2022 FAR: Changing Tides Okomotive Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch
Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters Complex Games Windows
2023 Stranded: Alien Dawn Haemimont Games Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S
Deliver Us Mars KeokeN Interactive
The Great War: Western Front Petroglyph Games Windows

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Annual Results". London Stock Exchange. 21 September 2022. Archived from the original on 22 September 2022. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  2. ^ "FY22 Interim Results". London Stock Exchange. Archived from the original on 14 June 2022. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
  3. ^ "Big tech presents next chapter for UK gaming companies". Financial Times. 26 April 2019. Archived from the original on 11 December 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2019.
  4. ^ Barton, Seth (July 2018). "Life on the Frontier". MCV. No. 937. Future Publishing. pp. 14–18.
  5. ^ Houlihan, John (23 September 2005). "Xbox Interviews: David Braben - The Outsider". Computer and Video Games. Archived from the original on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 25 September 2007.
  6. ^ "The Outsider 'not cancelled'". MCV. 20 January 2011. Archived from the original on 9 November 2021. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  7. ^ "David Braben says The Outsider "probably is gone for good"". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  8. ^ Jarvis, Matthew (31 March 2016). "Frontier cements total independence with self-published Planet Coaster". Develop. NewBay Media. Archived from the original on 21 October 2016. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
  9. ^ "Frontier Developments Officially Opens First North American Office in Nova Scotia". PR Newswire. Archived from the original on 22 July 2022. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  10. ^ Hussain, Tamoor (3 January 2017). "Atari Being Sued for Alleged Unpaid Rollercoaster Tycoon Royalties". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 4 June 2017. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
  11. ^ "Frontier Developments Secures Movie Licence For Third Game Franchise". London Stock Exchange. 6 February 2017. Archived from the original on 8 February 2017. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  12. ^ "Frontier Announces Jurassic World Evolution". Frontier. Archived from the original on 25 April 2022. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
  13. ^ "Elite Dangerous developer announces Frontier Expo 2017". PC Gamer. 26 July 2017. Archived from the original on 29 July 2017. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  14. ^ "Chinese game giant Tencent buys 9% of Elite Dangerous dev Frontier". Eurogamer. 28 July 2017. Archived from the original on 28 July 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
  15. ^ Valentine, Rebekah (10 March 2022). "Frontier Developments signs exclusive license for multiple F1 management games". Gameindustry.biz. Archived from the original on 30 April 2022. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  16. ^ a b Barbosa, Alessandro (10 June 2021). "Jurassic World Evolution 2 Announced, Launching in 2021". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 25 April 2022. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  17. ^ Hall, Charlie (10 March 2022). "Elite Dangerous console development canceled, new content will be for PC only". Polygon. Archived from the original on 30 April 2022. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
  18. ^ Dealessandri, Marie (10 August 2022). "David Braben to step down as CEO of Frontier". Games Industry.biz. Archived from the original on 22 August 2022. Retrieved 23 August 2022.
  19. ^ "Acquisition of Complex Games Inc". otp.tools.investis.com. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
  20. ^ Batchelor, James (17 October 2023). "Frontier to lay off unknown number of staff in organisational review". Games Industry.biz. Archived from the original on 11 November 2023. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
  21. ^ Wales, Matt (27 August 2020). "Flesh-flailing co-op platformer Struggling is the first game from Frontier Development's new publishing label". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 29 May 2021. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  22. ^ Tack, Daniel (27 August 2020). "Time Looping Lemnis Gate Featured At Gamescom 2020". Game Informer. Archived from the original on 30 April 2022. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  23. ^ Handrahan, Matthew (12 June 2019). "Frontier signs first deal as third-party publisher". Gameindustry.biz. Archived from the original on 30 April 2022. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  24. ^ Kim, Matt (23 August 2022). "Stranded: Alien Dawn Is a New Survival Sim About a Community Marooned in Space". IGN. Retrieved 23 August 2022.
  25. ^ Park, Morgan (13 June 2021). "Time loop FPS Lemnis Gate gets a release date at the PC Gaming Show". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 25 April 2022. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  26. ^ Hall, Charlie (3 June 2021). "Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters will reboot the turn-based classic". Polygon. Archived from the original on 30 April 2022. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  27. ^ Nightingale, Ed (11 January 2022). "Far: Changing Tides now has a release date". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  28. ^ a b Brown, Andy (30 March 2022). "'Deliver Us The Moon' sequel 'Deliver Us Mars' announced with new trailer". NME. Archived from the original on 30 April 2022. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
  29. ^ Chalk, Andy (24 August 2022). "Command and Conquer Remastered studio reveals a brand-new RTS". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 24 August 2022. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  30. ^ "Full year trading update & Frontier Foundry review". otp.tools.investis.com. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  31. ^ a b c d e "Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin flops, Frontier shares tank nearly 20 per cent". The Economic Times. 27 November 2023. Archived from the original on 7 December 2023.
  32. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2 April 2024. Retrieved 2 April 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  33. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2 April 2024. Retrieved 2 April 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  34. ^ "Interview with Senior Localisation Manager at Frontier Developments". gamedev.net. 25 April 2020. Archived from the original on 7 October 2024. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
  35. ^ a b c "Programmer Application Guidance". Frontier. 12 August 2024. Archived from the original on 12 August 2024. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
  36. ^ a b c d e "Cobra Development Technologies & Tools". Frontier. 23 January 2023. Archived from the original on 12 August 2024. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
  37. ^ a b Takahashi, Dean (16 July 2013). "U.K.'s Frontier Developments rises 21% in first day on London's AIM stock market". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on 12 October 2024. Retrieved 12 October 2024.
  38. ^ Handrahan, Matthew (17 June 2014). "Frontier Developments: 240 people and still indie". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 12 October 2024. Retrieved 12 October 2024.
  39. ^ "IP Licence with Games Workshop and Trading Update, Frontier Developments PLC". London Stock Exchange. Archived from the original on 30 April 2022. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
  40. ^ "New F1 Manager 2022 game set for summer release". 7 March 2022. Archived from the original on 30 April 2022. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  41. ^ "F1 Manager 23 to launch in the summer with a host of fresh features | Formula 1®". www.formula1.com. Archived from the original on 24 May 2023. Retrieved 25 May 2023.
  42. ^ Castle, Katharine (25 May 2023). "Elite Dangerous devs are making new Warhammer RTS, Age Of Sigmar: Realms Of Ruin". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Archived from the original on 25 May 2023. Retrieved 25 May 2023.
  43. ^ Ngan, Liv (12 March 2024). "F1 Manager 2024 includes Create A Team, due this summer". Eurogamer. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  44. ^ Nightingale, Ed (11 July 2024). "Frontier officially announces Planet Coaster 2, now with water parks". Eurogamer. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  45. ^ Phillips, Tom (8 September 2020). "Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 Complete Edition headed to PC and Switch". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 9 September 2020. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
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