Nimble Giant Entertainment

Nimble Giant Entertainment, SA (formerly known as NGD Studios) is an Argentine video game developer located in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The studio was acquired by Saber Interactive in 2020.

Nimble Giant Entertainment, SA
FormerlyNGD Studios (2002-2019)
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
Founded2002; 22 years ago (2002)
Headquarters,
Number of locations
4 (2022)
Key people
Martín Cao (CEO)
Andrés Chilkowski (COO)
Number of employees
160[1] (2022)
ParentSaber Interactive (2020–present)
Websitenimblegiant.com

History

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They started as a three group fusion and they first created a game for a construction kit toy called Mis Ladrillos, which is similar to Lego toys.

In 2004, Nimble Giant created a mobile gaming division, making games for known brands like Axe and doing development for the multinational GlobalFun. After releasing some successful games, GlobalFun acquired the mobile division from NGD Studios in 2007.[2]

The company is currently continuing development of a real-time, 3D massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) which emphasizes flexible gameplay and dynamic content. The game is called Regnum Online, and it has been in development for five years before ended up being released during the first quarter of 2007. The game was intended for the Spanish-speaking market at the beginning but then improved enough to be targeted for other zones as well, more recently the game has struggled to maintain a critical population and has scaled back some of its international servers.[3]

The game currently officially supports English, Spanish, German, French and Dutch but they have stated plans to open the translation tools so volunteers can incorporate other languages.

The game uses a proprietary engine called NG3D which was built from scratch with massive multiplayer games in mind. It supports a variety of features found in today's engines, such as hardware shaders support, continuous world loading, asynchronous resource management and a flexible gameplay system.

Regnum Online was officially released on May 24, 2007. Any information about future expansions and features have been not disclosed yet. With the update of the NG3D engine, Nimble Giant Entertainment made graphic updates on Regnum Online. In 2011, they released a game called Bunch of Heroes, made with the new NG3D 2.0, and in 2013, they changed the game title to Champions of Regnum. In 2012, they helped on developing a game called Maldark: Conqueror of Worlds with Cartoon Network.

In late 2016, NGD acquired Red Katana, a developer founded in 2010, making its founder, Martín Cao, to replace Andrés Chilkowski as chief executive officer.

In May 2019, NGD Studios was rebranded as Nimble Giant Entertainment with the hiring of former Rockstar Games executive Jeronimo Barrera as its vice president of product development, however he left the studio in June 2020.[4]

In November 2020, Embracer Group announced that they acquired the company through Saber Interactive, which will be the parent company.[5] Nimble Giant partnered with Paradox Interactive for Star Trek: Infinite, a grand strategy video game set in the Star Trek universe.[6] After two previous rounds of layoffs in 2023, Embrace cut another 30 jobs on January 30, 2024.[7] In March 2024, Saber was sold to Beacon Interactive, a new company from Saber co-founder Matthew Karch. Many of Saber's studios, including Nimble Giant, were included in the sale.[8]

List of games

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Year Title Platform(s) Publisher(s) Notes
2002 Mis Ladrillos Interactivo Microsoft Windows Mis Ladrillos
2003 Mis Ladrillos Interactivo: El Misterio de los Ladrillos Maestros
2004 Absolute Puzzle J2ME GlobalFun
Clear Out
Axe - Marcales el Camino
2005 Billy the Kid: Wanted
2006 Great Legends: Billy the Kid II
Absolute Puzzle Split
2007 Great Legends: Vikings
2008 Axe - Tetris
2009 Absolute Puzzle Deluxe
2011 Bunch of Heroes Microsoft Windows Nimble Giant Entertainment
Realms Online Macintosh
Microsoft Windows
2012 Maldark: Conqueror of Worlds Microsoft Windows Cartoon Network Games
2013 Champions of Regnum Linux
Macintosh
Microsoft Windows
Nimble Giant Entertainment
2014 Adventure Time: Finn & Jake's Epic Quest Microsoft Windows Cartoon Network Games
2016 Master of Orion: Conquer the Stars Linux
Macintosh
Microsoft Windows
Wargaming
2019 Drone Strike Force Microsoft Windows Odisi Games
2020 Quantum League Microsoft Windows
PlayStation 4
Xbox One
Nintendo Switch
Nimble Giant Entertainment
Rocket Arena PlayStation 4
Xbox One
Microsoft Windows
Electronic Arts Co-developed with First Strike Games
2021 Hellbound Microsoft Windows Nimble Giant Entertainment Developed by Saibot Studios
2023 Star Trek: Infinite Microsoft Windows
Macintosh
Paradox Interactive

References

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  1. ^ "Embracer Annual Report & Sustainability Report 2021-2022" (PDF).
  2. ^ "GlobalFun: News". Archived from the original on 2006-10-20. Retrieved 2006-11-28.
  3. ^ "Haven: Transfers to Ra and Valhalla are open - Champions of Regnum".
  4. ^ "Rockstar veteran Jeronimo Barrera joins Nimble Giant Entertainment".
  5. ^ Takahashi, Dean (November 17, 2020). "Embracer Group acquires 10 game studios and a PR firm". Venture Beat. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
  6. ^ Brown, Fraser (June 8, 2023). "Paradox is publishing a Star Trek grand strategy game and I am vibrating with anticipation". PC Gamer. Retrieved June 10, 2023.
  7. ^ Zweizen, Zack (2024-01-10). "59 Days Into 2024 And 8,100+ Video Game Layoffs Have Been Announced". Kotaku. Retrieved 2024-03-05.
  8. ^ McEvoy, Sophie (2024-03-14). "Embracer sells Saber Interactive for $247m". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 2024-03-14.
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