Gearbox Software
Encyclopedia
Gearbox Software, LLC is an American
video game development
company based in Plano, Texas
.
, Brian Martel, Stephen Bahl, Landon Montgomery, and Rob Heironimus. Before Rebel Boat Rocker, Pitchford and Martel previously worked together at 3D Realms
, and Montgomery previously worked at Bethesda Softworks
.
They started with developing expansions to Valve
Software's Half-Life. Porting Half-Life to console platforms (each with new game content) followed, building the company's experience in console game-making, in addition to enhancing and building upon the successful Counter-Strike
branch of the Half-Life franchise. Prior to Half-Life 2
, they had developed or helped develop every Half-Life expansion game or port, including Opposing Force
, Blue Shift
, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero
, Half-Life for the Sony PlayStation 2
(including Half-Life Decay), and Half-Life for the Sega Dreamcast (including Half-Life Blue Shift
). Branching out to other publishers, they pursued additional port
work, each game being released with additional content, but this time from console to PC. These projects included their first non-FPS, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
, and Halo: Combat Evolved
, forging new publisher relationships with Activision
and Microsoft Game Studios
respectively. Additional new development, in the form of a PC game in the James Bond
franchise (Nightfire
) for Electronic Arts
, also occurred during the company's initial 5-year period.
In 2005, they launched an original property of their creation, Brothers in Arms
, with the release of Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30
on the Xbox, PC and PlayStation 2. Later that year a sequel, Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood
, was launched. Both games earned numerous awards and topped sales charts. In 2006, the development of Brothers in Arms Hell's Highway was announced (later released in 2008).
2007 brought announcements of new projects based on licensed film IPs, including the crime drama Heat and the science-fiction classic Aliens
. In the September 2007 issue of Game Informer
, a new game franchise was revealed, the sci-fi shooter Borderlands
, after which Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford mentioned in an online interview that development on the Heat game had not yet begun, as the planned development partner for the project had gone under. This was followed by an announcement by Sega
that they would be helming a new version of rhythm game Samba de Amigo
for the Wii
, a departure from their signature FPS titles.
In 2008, Sega
announced its license of the Aliens franchise and a development deal with Gearbox Software to create Aliens: Colonial Marines
. Also in 2008, Gearbox Software's CEO Randy Pitchford announced that the company was working on yet another major unannounced title, hinting that it was "huge". On September 3, 2010, it was announced through their Twitter feed that they are behind Duke Nukem Forever.
Since 2009, Allen Blum, the co-designer of Duke Nukem 3D
and his development team are housed at Gearbox Software under the name of Triptych Games. The team worked on the game in their own homes before Gearbox Software decided to collaborate.
and Half-Life: Blue Shift
(expansion packs); ports of Half-Life for Dreamcast (which included Half-Life: Blue Shift
) and Half-Life for PlayStation 2 (which included Half-Life: Decay
); they also did a large amount of work on both the retail release of Counter-Strike
and the main portion of Counter-Strike: Condition Zero
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
video game development
Video game developer
A video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers.Most developers also...
company based in Plano, Texas
Plano, Texas
Plano is a city in the state of Texas, located mostly within Collin County. The city's population was 259,841 at the 2010 census, making it the ninth-largest city in Texas and the 71st most populous city in the United States. Plano is located within the metropolitan area commonly referred to as...
.
History
Gearbox Software was founded in January 1999 by five members of the content team from the defunct developer Rebel Boat Rocker: Randy PitchfordRandy Pitchford
Randall S. "DuvalMagic" Pitchford II is one of five founders of video game developer Gearbox Software and currently the CEO and president of the company.-Career:...
, Brian Martel, Stephen Bahl, Landon Montgomery, and Rob Heironimus. Before Rebel Boat Rocker, Pitchford and Martel previously worked together at 3D Realms
3D Realms
3D Realms is a current video game publisher and former video game developer based in Garland, Texas, United States, established in 1987...
, and Montgomery previously worked at Bethesda Softworks
Bethesda Softworks
Bethesda Softworks, LLC, is an American video game company. A subsidiary of ZeniMax Media, the company was originally based in Bethesda, Maryland and eventually moved to their current location in Rockville, Maryland...
.
They started with developing expansions to Valve
Valve Corporation
Valve Corporation is an American video game development and digital distribution company based in Bellevue, Washington, United States...
Software's Half-Life. Porting Half-Life to console platforms (each with new game content) followed, building the company's experience in console game-making, in addition to enhancing and building upon the successful Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike is a tactical first-person shooter video game developed by Valve Corporation which originated from a Half-Life modification by Minh "Gooseman" Le and Jess "Cliffe" Cliffe...
branch of the Half-Life franchise. Prior to Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2 , the sequel to Half-Life, is a first-person shooter video game and a signature title in the Half-Life series. It is singleplayer, story-driven, science fiction, and linear...
, they had developed or helped develop every Half-Life expansion game or port, including Opposing Force
Half-Life: Opposing Force
Half-Life: Opposing Force is an expansion pack for Valve Software's science fiction first-person shooter video game Half-Life. The game was developed by Gearbox Software and Valve Corporation and published by Sierra Entertainment on November 1, 1999. Opposing Force is the first expansion for...
, Blue Shift
Half-Life: Blue Shift
Half-Life: Blue Shift is an expansion pack for Valve Software's science fiction first-person shooter video game Half-Life. The game was developed by Gearbox Software with Valve Corporation and published by Sierra Entertainment on June 12, 2001...
, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero
Counter-Strike: Condition Zero
Counter-Strike: Condition Zero is a multiplayer video game and the follow-up to Counter-Strike. The game was released in 2004 using the GoldSrc Half-Life engine. CS:CZ features a multiplayer mode, which features updated character models, textures, maps and other graphical tweaks...
, Half-Life for the Sony PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
(including Half-Life Decay), and Half-Life for the Sega Dreamcast (including Half-Life Blue Shift
Half-Life: Blue Shift
Half-Life: Blue Shift is an expansion pack for Valve Software's science fiction first-person shooter video game Half-Life. The game was developed by Gearbox Software with Valve Corporation and published by Sierra Entertainment on June 12, 2001...
). Branching out to other publishers, they pursued additional port
Porting
In computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...
work, each game being released with additional content, but this time from console to PC. These projects included their first non-FPS, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, often abbreviated to THPS3, is a skateboarding video game in the Tony Hawk's series. It was developed by Neversoft and published by Activision in 2001 for the Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation. In 2002, it was published for the...
, and Halo: Combat Evolved
Halo: Combat Evolved
Halo: Combat Evolved, frequently referred to as Halo: CE, or Halo 1, is a first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The first game of the Halo franchise, it was released on November 15, 2001 as a launch title for the Xbox gaming system, and is...
, forging new publisher relationships with Activision
Activision
Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...
and Microsoft Game Studios
Microsoft Game Studios
Microsoft Studios is the video game production wing for Microsoft, responsible for the development and publishing of games for the Xbox, Xbox 360, Games for Windows and Windows Phone platforms. They were established in 2002 as Microsoft Game Studios to coincide with the release of the Xbox, before...
respectively. Additional new development, in the form of a PC game in the James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
franchise (Nightfire
James Bond 007: Nightfire
007: NightFire is a first-person shooter video game featuring the character of the British secret agent James Bond and a sequel to Agent Under Fire, published by Electronic Arts in ....
) for Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
, also occurred during the company's initial 5-year period.
In 2005, they launched an original property of their creation, Brothers in Arms
Brothers in Arms (series)
Brothers in Arms is a video game series consisting of three main games and seven spin-off games.-Main series:Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30: Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 is a first-person shooter video game created by Gearbox Software for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, and Xbox. It is...
, with the release of Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30
Brothers In Arms: Road to Hill 30
Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 is a first-person shooter video game created by Gearbox Software for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox and Mac OS X. It is the first game in the Brothers in Arms series. It is published by Ubisoft and was released in early 2005...
on the Xbox, PC and PlayStation 2. Later that year a sequel, Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood
Brothers In Arms: Earned in Blood
Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood is a video game and sequel to Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 and the second game in the Brothers in Arms series, developed by Gearbox Software for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, and Xbox...
, was launched. Both games earned numerous awards and topped sales charts. In 2006, the development of Brothers in Arms Hell's Highway was announced (later released in 2008).
2007 brought announcements of new projects based on licensed film IPs, including the crime drama Heat and the science-fiction classic Aliens
Alien (franchise)
The Alien film series is a science fiction horror film franchise, focusing on Lieutenant Ellen Ripley and her battle with an extraterrestrial lifeform, commonly referred to as "the Alien"...
. In the September 2007 issue of Game Informer
Game Informer
Game Informer is an American-based monthly magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of popular video games and associated consoles. It was formed in August 1991, when FuncoLand started publishing a six-page magazine, free in all its retail locations...
, a new game franchise was revealed, the sci-fi shooter Borderlands
Borderlands (video game)
Borderlands is a science fiction based first-person shooter with RPG elements that was developed by Gearbox Software for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It was first revealed in the September 2007 issue of Game Informer magazine...
, after which Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford mentioned in an online interview that development on the Heat game had not yet begun, as the planned development partner for the project had gone under. This was followed by an announcement by Sega
Sega
, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...
that they would be helming a new version of rhythm game Samba de Amigo
Samba de Amigo
Samba de Amigo is a rhythm game originally developed by Sonic Team and released in 1999 by Sega in arcades, 2000 for the Dreamcast video game console, and developed by Gearbox Software and Escalation Studios in 2008 for the Wii. The player uses controllers shaped like maracas with the goal of...
for the Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
, a departure from their signature FPS titles.
In 2008, Sega
Sega
, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...
announced its license of the Aliens franchise and a development deal with Gearbox Software to create Aliens: Colonial Marines
Aliens: Colonial Marines
Aliens: Colonial Marines is an upcoming video game in development by Gearbox Software and is to be published by Sega for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 3, Wii U and Xbox 360...
. Also in 2008, Gearbox Software's CEO Randy Pitchford announced that the company was working on yet another major unannounced title, hinting that it was "huge". On September 3, 2010, it was announced through their Twitter feed that they are behind Duke Nukem Forever.
Since 2009, Allen Blum, the co-designer of Duke Nukem 3D
Duke Nukem 3D
Duke Nukem 3D is a first-person shooter computer game developed by 3D Realms and published by GT Interactive Software. The full version was released for the PC . It is a sequel to the platform games Duke Nukem and Duke Nukem II published by Apogee...
and his development team are housed at Gearbox Software under the name of Triptych Games. The team worked on the game in their own homes before Gearbox Software decided to collaborate.
Half-Life
They have developed a total of six games in the Half-Life series: Half-Life: Opposing ForceHalf-Life: Opposing Force
Half-Life: Opposing Force is an expansion pack for Valve Software's science fiction first-person shooter video game Half-Life. The game was developed by Gearbox Software and Valve Corporation and published by Sierra Entertainment on November 1, 1999. Opposing Force is the first expansion for...
and Half-Life: Blue Shift
Half-Life: Blue Shift
Half-Life: Blue Shift is an expansion pack for Valve Software's science fiction first-person shooter video game Half-Life. The game was developed by Gearbox Software with Valve Corporation and published by Sierra Entertainment on June 12, 2001...
(expansion packs); ports of Half-Life for Dreamcast (which included Half-Life: Blue Shift
Half-Life: Blue Shift
Half-Life: Blue Shift is an expansion pack for Valve Software's science fiction first-person shooter video game Half-Life. The game was developed by Gearbox Software with Valve Corporation and published by Sierra Entertainment on June 12, 2001...
) and Half-Life for PlayStation 2 (which included Half-Life: Decay
Half-Life: Decay
Half-Life: Decay is an expansion pack for Valve Software's science fiction, first-person shooter video game Half-Life. Developed by Gearbox Software and published by Sierra Entertainment, Decay was released as part of the PlayStation 2 version of Half-Life released on November 14, 2001...
); they also did a large amount of work on both the retail release of Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike is a tactical first-person shooter video game developed by Valve Corporation which originated from a Half-Life modification by Minh "Gooseman" Le and Jess "Cliffe" Cliffe...
and the main portion of Counter-Strike: Condition Zero
Counter-Strike: Condition Zero
Counter-Strike: Condition Zero is a multiplayer video game and the follow-up to Counter-Strike. The game was released in 2004 using the GoldSrc Half-Life engine. CS:CZ features a multiplayer mode, which features updated character models, textures, maps and other graphical tweaks...
.