Krome Studios Pty Ltd.
Overview
Krome Studios was originally established in 1999 as a joint venture between
Gee Whiz! Entertainment (founded by
John Passfield and
Steve Stamatiadis - who had also founded
Interactive Binary Illusions in 1993) and another company (owned by
Robert Walsh). Passfield and Stamatiadis met Walsh through their work on the title
Mike Stewart’s Pro Bodyboarding (1999) and decided to continue together. Krome was established with the goal of creating original and licensed games for PC, console and later handheld, systems.
John Passfield left the company after selling his shares in early 2005. He is the co-creator and designer of the
TY the Tasmanian Tiger series.
From a humble team of five, Krome grew exponentially each year to become Australia's largest game development company. In its early days, Krome pioneered surfing games on the Playstation with
Championship Surfer and
Sunny Garcia Surfing, utilising in-house technology. Following this, Krome produced a number of children's titles including games for the Barbie, Disney and Nickelodeon franchises.
In November 2006 Krome Studios acquired
Atari Melbourne House Pty Ltd., Australia's oldest development studio (known as Beam Software Pty., Ltd. in the eighties until the mid-nineties) and it was renamed Krome Studios Melbourne.
Contributed by
Xoleras (67002) on Jul 28, 2005.