Liquid Swords Announces Investment From NetEase Games

Liquid Swords Announces Investment From NetEase Games

Swedish start-up takes a significant step in its mission to shake up video-game development. 

November 2, 2022, Stockholm-based indie game developer Liquid Swords AB today announced an exciting investment from NetEase Games, one of China’s leading online games service providers.

Liquid Swords, founded by game-development luminary Christofer Sundberg, will continue to operate independently. The investment enables Sundberg to realize his vision of simplifying the development process to create exceptional, narrative-driven, experiences for players.

This investment further highlights NetEase Games’ philosophy of supporting innovation and game development around the globe.

As founder and CCO, Sundberg, explains, “NetEase Games has been exceptionally supportive from the very get-go, believing in our high ambitions and quality-focused approach to game development. We are very pleased to have them as our partners on this adventure and with their support, we can begin to realize the vision for our studio.”

Equally as excited about the partnership is Simon Zhu, president of global partnerships and investments, NetEase Games, "NetEase Games has a proud tradition of unleashing the potential of creators and providing the support they need to build amazing experiences. We believe in the creativity of Liquid Swords and share their passion for building open-world games and experiences. They have built a strong, experienced team and we are very excited to partner with them as they begin their journey of creating something amazing for gamers worldwide." 

Speaking about why he founded the studio, Sundberg explains, “In December 2020, I set out on a journey to make a difference in the world of game development– which has been my professional and entertainment world since the early 90s. I want to make a difference to how games are made, how the teams work, and how the creative process evolves. Liquid Swords is the realization of an ambition to refocus the game-development process.” 

As the founder and former CCO of Avalanche Studios, Sundberg led the creation of the critically acclaimed, ground-breaking, blockbuster ‘Just Cause’ series.  Liquid Swords is the next chapter in his illustrious gaming career, with the studio currently working on its first title: a AAA+, single-player, narrative-driven, open-world, action RPG.

Liquid Swords is preparing to take huge strides in 2023 by ramping up the next phase of game development, reaching its growth ambition of a 100-strong team, and moving into a newly refurbished office designed to accommodate its dedicated and creative minds.

For Liquid Swords, this announcement is not only a momentous step toward Sundberg’s original vision of a quality-focused super studio but perhaps a small step toward a video-game industry without half-baked games and broken promises.

About Liquid Swords: Founded in 2020, Liquid Swords AB is a video-game developer, based in Sweden, focusing on narrative-driven open-world games. The studio was founded by Christofer Sundberg, founder and former CCO of Avalanche Studios and original creator of the acclaimed Just Cause franchise. Liquid Swords' goal is to deliver unforgettable experiences by reaching the highest quality possible and tell stories in new, innovative ways.

Liquid Swords’ development team is a mix of experts, who have contributed to franchises including Just Cause, Battlefield, GTA, and PayDay. The studio is backed by Christofer Sundberg, NetEase Games, and private investors.

For more information, connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Liquid Swords is a registered trademark of Liquid Swords AB. All other trademarks are registered trademarks by their respective owners.

www.liquidswords.com

Interior Night Drafts In Trio of Senior Staff

Narrative games studio begins next chapter with key hires of Steve Kniebihly, Ronald De Feijter and Charu Desodt.

13th December 2017. London, UK.

Interior Night, the recently formed studio dedicated to creating innovative and accessible narrative games, today announces the addition of 3 new senior staff:

• Steve Kniebihly joins as Cinematic Director, with a track record that spans high profile titles like ‘Heavy Rain’, ‘Beyond - Two Souls’, ‘The Witcher 3 – Blood and Wine’ and most recently ‘Planet of the Apes – New Frontier’.
• Ronald De Feijter joins as Technical Director, from Sony where he led gameplay on ‘Eye Pet’, ‘Wonderbook; Book of Spells’ and PlayStation ‘VR Worlds’.
• Charu Desodt joins as Production Director. An experienced producer of social and AR games including Sony’s ‘SingStar’ and ‘Wonderbook: Book of Spells’, Charu was also a 2014 Breakthrough Brit winner.

Founder and Creative Director Caroline Marchal said, “I’m delighted to have Steve, Ronald and Charu join the team. In addition to being super nice and amazing to work with, they are experts in narrative and social games. They are the right people to help Interior Night fulfil its ambition.”

Interior Night is developing narrative games aimed at a mature TV audience – people who love shows like Breaking Bad or Fargo but who are not necessarily gamers. The studio aims to craft broad experiences where people forget about the mechanics to focus on the characters and the story for maximum emotional impact. 

For more information visit:

W: http://www.interiornight.com/

T: @Int_Night

Media Enquiries

Alison Beasley, Lincoln Beasley PR. M: +44 (0) 7966 449130 E: alison@lincolnbeasley.co.uk

All Your Bass - Video Game Music & Audio Festival - Jan 2018

Coming to Nottingham in January 2018

23 November 2017.  Announced in early November All Your Bass: The Videogame Music Festival  is a new videogame music and audio festival coming to Nottingham on January 19th & 20th 2018.

The festival features outstanding headline acts:

• Legendary Japanese Videogame composer Masaya Matsuura, 
• Heartbeat of the 80s home computer scene Rob Hubbard 
• A live performance of Dear Ester by the Liverpool Philharmonic accompanied by on-screen play through by Thomas McMullenan followed with Q&As with BAFTA-winning composer Jessica Curry.

In addition we’re delighted to announce a number of further additions to our programme:

• Alistair Lindsay, Head of Audio at Sony, will share the audio past and future of the playstation classic WipEout. 
• Taking inspiration from the sounds of classic videogame hardware systems virtuoso pianist Yshani Perinpanayagam will explore ideas of game and play at the piano
• A performance of Monument Valley’s music
• A live composer commentary on Donkey Kong and Snake Pass from David Wise
• A fireside chat with David Housden and Mike Bithell as they discuss their award-winning collaborations on Thomas was Alone & Volume. 
• The exciting Retro Hour podcast and Blake Troise will celebrate modern chip-tunes and one-bit audio 
• Graeme Norgate speaking about his experiencing composing Goldeneye 64 and Free Radical
• Chris Abbott shares his experiences launching ‘Project Hubbard’ through Kickstarter 
• Sheridans’ Law on hand to answer all your licensing questions
• A live performances of innovative composition Climb! from composer Maria Kallionpaa and the University of Nottingham’s Mixed Reality Lab.

Tickets are £80 (two-day) and £45 (one-day) and are available at www.thenva.com/allyourbass.

Elite: Dangerous Out Now on PC

Elite: Dangerous Available Now

Frontier Developments launches Elite: Dangerous and announces £10,000 race to Elite contest

Cambridge, UK. 16 December 2014. Frontier Developments plc (AIM: FDEV) today launched Elite: Dangerous, the fourth game in the groundbreaking, genre-defining Elite series.

Elite: Dangerous is the fourth in the Elite series of games, following on from the seminal 1984 Elite, developed by David Braben and Ian Bell, 1993’s Frontier: Elite 2, and 1995’s Frontier: First Encounters.

Elite: Dangerous was crowdfunded via Kickstarter and Frontier Developments’ own website, beginning in November 2012. Throughout 2014, backers have had access to the game’s Alpha, Beta and Gamma stages.

The first part of Elite: Dangerous’ ongoing, unfolding story begins today with the Empire in disarray. The Emperor is sick and a bitter fight for succession has already begun, the Federation has a weak President and some frontier States are looking to leave it. Players are free to throw themselves into the story wholeheartedly, participate a little, or not at all. How players choose to respond will directly affect the outcome of the current events, and the unfolding story beyond.

Elite: Dangerous is available now at elitedangerous.com/store for £39.99 ($59.99, €49.99).

Race to Elite

Since 1984, players have aspired to be called Elite. In 1984 only the greatest combat pilots were known by the prestigious title.

Today in Elite: Dangerous, Elite status is awarded as recognition for total mastery in combat, trading or exploration, with the best of the best aspiring to become Elite in all three.

 For most, the journey to Elite will be a long one. For some, it will become a race.

Frontier Developments is offering a £1,000 cash prize to the first player who attains Elite status for each of combat, trading and exploration, and a further £10,000 prize for the first player to attain the coveted Triple Elite status for total mastery of all three. Players choosing to claim one of the £1,000 cash prizes will make them ineligible for the ‘triple’ prize, though one player could get more than one of the £1,000 prizes.

For further details and rules of the competition, visit the Elite: Dangerous forum thread on the competition here

About Elite: Dangerous

Take control of your own starship in a cutthroat galaxy.  In the year 3300, across the vast expanse of an epic, full-scale recreation of our Milky Way, interstellar rivalries flare as galactic superpowers fight proxy wars.

Some may know you as an ally; others will call you a pirate, a bounty hunter, a smuggler, an explorer, an assassin, a hero... Fly alone or with friends, fight for a cause or go it alone; your actions change the galaxy around you in an ever unfolding story.

Start with a small starship and a few credits, and do whatever it takes to get the skill, knowledge, wealth and power to stand among the ranks of the Elite.

400 Billion Star Systems. Infinite Freedom. Blaze Your Own Trail.

About Frontier Developments

 Frontier Developments plc is a leading independent game developer, founded in 1994 by David Braben, co-author of the seminal ‘Elite’ game from 1984, and co-founder of the Raspberry Pi Foundation. Based in Cambridge, UK and Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, Frontier uses its proprietary ‘Cobra’ game development technology to create innovative games across consoles, computers, smartphones and tablets.

Elite: Dangerous, to be released on PC and Mac, was crowd-funded via a successful Kickstarter campaign and Frontier’s own website. Previous Frontier titles include RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, Thrillville, LostWinds, Kinectimals, Disneyland Adventures and Zoo Tycoon. The studio recently released Tales From Deep Space with Amazon Game Studios, and announced Screamride for Microsoft’s Xbox One. Frontier is currently working on other original titles, both self-published and with publishing partners.