Shiny Entertainment, Inc.

Moby ID: 212

Overview edit · view history

Shiny Entertainment is a video game development studio based in Newport Beach, California (US). Shiny was founded in 1993 by David Perry after he left London for the US.

The company was originally known for its humorous games, such as the Earthworm Jim series, which spawned a successful line of action figures, comic books and a syndicated television cartoon series on the Universal Cartoon Studios/Warner Kids Network. Shiny was acquired by Interplay in 1995 and in the following five years they released MDK (1997), Wild 9 (1999), Messiah (2000) and Sacrifice (2000).

The critics' acclaim for their titles was not always reflected in the sales numbers, and in 2002 the company was acquired by Infogrames (later Atari), which meant a drastic change for the company's focus. Shiny released two games based on the Matrix films franchise: Enter the Matrix (2003) and The Matrix: Path of Neo. Although less polished than their previous games, those were Shiny's biggest successes.

In February 2006, Atari announced to restructure and sell Shiny. Founder David Perry resigned to spend more time raising interest for potential buyers, to rejoin afterwards. He announced to do this to avoid stepping on anybody's toes inside Atari, as he was also a member of various boards.

Eventually, David Perry did not return to the company and started directing an MMORPG at Acclaim Games. In October 2006, Atari sold Shiny to Foundation 9 Entertainment.

A year later, the company was merged with another studio of Foundation 9, The Collective. The merged studios were renamed into Double Helix Games.

Credited on 15 Games from 1994 to 2010

Earthworm Jim HD (2010 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Windows Phone...)
The Golden Compass (2007 on Windows, PlayStation 2, PSP...)
The Matrix: Path of Neo (2005 on Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox)
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003 on PlayStation 2, Xbox)
Enter the Matrix (2003 on Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox...)
Sacrifice (2000 on Windows, Macintosh)
Messiah (2000 on Windows)
R/C Stunt Copter (1999 on PlayStation)
Wild 9 (1998 on PlayStation)
VR Baseball 2000 (1998 on Windows)
MDK: Mission Laguna Beach (1997 on Windows)
MDK (1997 on DOS, Windows, PlayStation...)
Earthworm Jim 2 (1995 on Linux, Windows, PlayStation...)
Earthworm Jim: Special Edition (1995 on Windows, SEGA CD, BREW...)
Earthworm Jim (1994 on Linux, DOS, Windows...)

History +

October 9, 2007

Foundation 9 announces to combine The Collective and Shiny Entertainment into one larger studio: Double Helix Games.

October 2, 2006

David Perry does not return to the company and starts directing an MMORPG at Acclaim Games. Atari sells Shiny to Foundation 9 Entertainment.

February 19, 2006

When Atari announces to sell the company, founder David Perry resigns to spend more time raising interest by potential buyers, to rejoin afterwards. He does this to avoid stepping on anybody's toes inside Atari, as he is also a member of various boards.

April 25, 2002

Acquired by Infogrames for $47 million. This deal includes the license to produce three games based on the Matrix movies as well.

1995

Acquired by Interplay.

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Trivia +

The name 'Shiny' was conceived after having the R.E.M. track Shiny Happy People on loop during the development of the Aladdin computer game.

The company website was formerly located at www.shiny.com

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