The Climax Group
Overview
The Climax Group was founded by
Karl Jeffery in 1987 and has a long history as a European game development house. Since early 2007 the company consists of one development studio,
Climax Action based in Portsmouth, England.
In its early days the company focused on additional development and ports of existing games. It is not known if the company did any work in the industry in the nine years starting from 1987, but there appears to be a link with the software house
Images Software Ltd. for the titles
Shadow Dancer,
R-Type (Atari ST) and
Ninja Spirit. Initially development services were done under the name
Climax. Later, different names were used for the division as the company expanded.
The first known work was in 1996 when Climax contributed art to the Genesis and Game Gear versions of
Bugs Bunny in Double Trouble and then created their first original title,
Muppets on the Go, for the SEGA Pico. The team made the Saturn/PSX port
Warcraft II: The Dark Saga (1997), the Saturn port of
FIFA 98: Road to World Cup (1997), and the PSX ports of
San Francisco Rush: Extreme Racing (1998),
Diablo (1998),
Populous: The Beginning (1998) and
The F.A. Premier League Stars. A Saturn port of
Cybersled they were working on along with
Namco Hometek Inc. was cancelled.
At that time the company also had a number of demos it was pitching to publishers.
Halcyon (PC/Dreamcast) was an RPG that combined high level resource management with real-time battles and open-world exploration. It was set in the universe of King Arthur, at the time shortly after his death. Another was a
Dragonball 'Z' game for the Saturn,
Huevos based on the arcade game
Joust, and
World Tennis, a 3D tennis game. None of these were eventually completed. In 1999 they announced the action RPG
Symphony of Light. Originally intended for the Dreamcast, it eventually became the Xbox/Windows game
Sudeki in 2004.
Around 1999, the company employed about 80 people and it was a licensed developer for the Dreamcast, Nintendo 64, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and Nintendo Game Boy Color. In October 1998 they already had established a separate PC division
PC Studio, next to the main headquarters for console development. Shortly before, the company had also formed
Game Boy World, a division for Game Boy handheld games. The entire company moved to a larger office in Fareham in 1999.
In 2000 the company released the PSX ports of
Sim Theme Park,
Superbike 2000 and
Saban's Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue. Original work was delivered through
NHL Blades of Steel for
Konami (Game Boy Color),
Warriors of Might and Magic (Game Boy Color) and
Battlezone: Rise of the Black Dogs (Nintendo 64). In the same period the company established a joint venture with
Games Workshop Ltd. to make an online, subscription-based game about the
Warhammer universe. That would eventually become
Warhammer Online: The Age of Reckoning (2008), but by a different development studio as it was taken away from Climax in 2004.
Just before the new millennium, Climax had also started expanding its business through the acquisition of studios.
The main development division had already been renamed
Climax Fareham (Climax Solent by June 2002) to make the distinction clear. Following the quick demise of the Dreamcast, three original titles in development at that time were cancelled:
Roswell Conspiracies (based on the BKN's series
Roswell Conspiracies: Aliens, Myths & Legends), and the racing games
Stunt Driver (made at Climax Brighton) and
Austin Powers: Mojo Rally. A fourth title,
Title Defense, was moved over for a PS2 release, but eventually not released.
In 2000 the PSX game
ATV: Quad Power Racing was completed, along with Game Boy Color titles
LEGO Alpha Team (2000) and
LEGO Racers (2001). After those releases the Game Boy title
Gauntlet: Dark Legacy for
Atari was cancelled.
In the following years the different studios branched out with new titles such as the
THQ MotoGP series and the RPG
Sudeki.
In November 2002
Climax Handheld Games was established, in and May 2003
Climax LA - the first studio on another continent - as well as a new audio facility in Brighton in October 2003. The high amount of studios made it difficult for central management, and by November 2004 the European studios were reorganized into three main brands:
Following the setback of the cancellation of
Warhammer Online,
Climax Online was closed by September 2005.
By the summer of 2006 management stated that they wanted change Climax into a one location, one studio developer with a single management team.
Climax Racing was sold to
Buena Vista Games, Inc. in September 2006 and
Climax LA was made a business division by February 2007. The reorganization was completed in February 2008 when the Kingston offices where
Climax London and
Climax Handheld Games used to be housed, were closed. The team had already moved to the
Climax Solent location by then.
In 2009, only a single development studio remains:
Climax Action, formerly called
Climax Solent and the initial development division when the company first started.
Trivia
Contact information (1999)
Climax Group
Fareham Heights
Standard Way
Fareham
PO16 8XT
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)1329 827777
Fax: +44 (0)1329 828777
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