Budcat Creations

Budcat Creations, LLC was an American video game developer based in Iowa City, Iowa, United States and was a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision, though they formerly had partnerships with Electronic Arts and Majesco Entertainment. They were largely responsible for porting titles to non-target consoles. They had worked on a number of blockbuster gaming franchises, among them Guitar Hero, Madden NFL, and Medal of Honor. They have also produced a few original titles, including Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy and The New York Times Crosswords.

Budcat Creations, LLC
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
FoundedSeptember 1, 2000
DefunctNovember 16, 2010
HeadquartersIowa City, Iowa, United States
Number of employees
80
ParentActivision
Websitewww.budcat.com

History

Budcat was founded by Jason Andersen and Jonah Stich who met on the precursor to AOL, via a shared interest in the Apple IIgs. A few months into the companies initial year, Isaac Burns joined as a partner. Isaac, and Jason met in High School, in their hometown of Iowa City, IA. In 2005 Jeremy Andersen joined Budcat as a partner and President of the studio.[1]

The company went on to produce a string of sports titles for EA over the next five years, including entries in the NASCAR Thunder, NHL Hockey series, and FIFA Manager series, as well as the PlayStation 2 version of Psychonauts for Majesco Entertainment.

In 2005, Budcat moved to its ultimate location in Iowa City in order to facilitate expanding their offices. Budcat worked in partnership with Majesco Entertainment, Electronic Arts, and Activision[2] on multiple titles before being purchased by Activision Blizzard on November 10, 2008, where they mostly worked on the Guitar Hero brand.[3]

Budcat Creations was shuttered by Activision Blizzard on November 16, 2010.[4][5][6]

Games
Release Title Platform Publisher
2011 Top Shot Arcade Wii Activision
2010 Pix Maze iOS Activision
2009 Band Hero PS2 Activision
2009 Our House Party Wii Majesco Entertainment
2009 Guitar Hero: Metallica Wii, PS2 Activision
2009 Guitar Hero 5 PS2 Activision
2008 Guitar Hero World Tour PS2 Activision
2008 Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Wii, PS2 Activision
2008 Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy Wii Majesco Entertainment
2007 Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Wii, PS2 Activision
2007 The New York Times Crosswords NDS Majesco Entertainment
2007 Medal of Honor: Vanguard Wii Electronic Arts
2007 Arena Football: Road to Glory PS2 EA Sports
2006 Nacho Libre NDS Majesco Entertainment
2005 Madden NFL 06 PC EA Sports
2005 Psychonauts PS2 Majesco Entertainment
2004 Total Club Manager 2005 Xbox, PS2 EA Sports
2004 Madden NFL 2005 PC EA Sports
2003 Total Club Manager 2004 Xbox, PS2 EA Sports
2003 Madden NFL 2004 PS1, GBA EA Sports
2003 NASCAR Thunder 2004 PS1 EA Sports
2002 NASCAR Thunder 2003 PS1 EA Sports
2002 Madden NFL 2003 PS1, GBA EA Sports
2002 NHL 2002 GBA EA Sports
2002 Desert Strike Advance GBA Electronic Arts
2001 Madden NFL 2002 PS1, N64, GBA EA Sports

References
  1. Yanes, Nicholas (2023-01-12). "The birth and death of Budcat Creations, Iowa's only triple-A studio". Game Developer. Retrieved 2023-01-17.
  2. "Activision Blizzard Buys Budcat". DFC Intelligence. 2008-11-11. Retrieved 2023-01-17.
  3. "Activision Buys Budcat, Assigns Them New Guitar Hero Title" from 1up.com
  4. "Activision shuts down Bizarre and Budcat studios"
  5. "Guitar Hero creator Budcat Studios shuts down". www.thegazette.com. Retrieved 2023-01-17.
  6. "Bizarre Creations, Budcat to be axed by Activision?". Destructoid. 2010-11-16. Retrieved 2023-01-17.
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