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Blacklight: Retribution Developer Zombie Studios Closes As Founders Retire
Zombie Studios, the developer behind last year’s Daylight and ongoing free-to-play title Blacklight: Retribution, has closed. A statement on the studio’s website details the situation, but offers hope for fans.
“The owners of Zombie Studios are retiring and wish to thank you, our fans, for the years of support you have provided us,” the company writes. The company was founded in 1994 and worked on titles in the Spec Ops, Rainbow Six, and Saw series. Zombie was also behind the excellent point and click Zork Nemesis, which was released in 1996.
Blacklight: Retribution will continue despite Zombie’s closure. “We want to congratulate and wish nothing but success to Builder Box, the new studio starting up that has acquired some of the work Zombie is parting with, including all rights to Blacklight: Retribution,” the company says. Builder Box is comprised of former Zombie employees.
According to Builder Box’s Facebook page, the transfer of rights took place on January 1, 2015. The studio is run by Andy Kipling, former director of production at Zombie, and Russell Nelson, former technical director.
“While ownership of the game has changed, the people behind the scenes who have been constantly contributing to the Blacklight universe for the last four years remains intact,” Kipling and Nelson write. “Builder Box will be working with Perfect World so that, as a fan, you can look forward to more updates and exciting changes in the coming year.”
[Source: Zombie Studios, Builder Box on Facebook via Eurogamer]
Our Take
A smooth transition and joint announcements like this should give Blacklight fans on PC and PS4 hope that the game is safe. I called out Zork Nemesis above, as it continues to be one of my favorite games of all time. It’s currently available via GoG.com, and it is well worth your time.
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