Ready at Dawn

Ready at Dawn Studios LLC (RAD) is an American video game developer located in Irvine, California, and is composed of former members of Naughty Dog[1] and Blizzard Entertainment.[2] Formed in 2003, the company has primarily worked on games for the PlayStation Portable (PSP), most notably the Sony Computer Entertainment intellectual property God of War and Daxter. Ready at Dawn has a satellite campus in Portland, Oregon to assist with future PC and console game development. The studio is part of Oculus Studios as of June 2020.

Ready at Dawn Studios LLC
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo game industry
Founded2003
FounderRu Weerasuriya
Andrea Pessino
Didier Malenfant
HeadquartersIrvine, California, United States
Number of locations
2 studios (2018)
Key people
Ru Weerasuriya (CCO)
Andrea Pessino (CTO)
ProductsDaxter
God of War series
Lone Echo series
Number of employees
20+
ParentOculus Studios (2020–present)
Websitereadyatdawn.com

History

Ready at Dawn was founded in 2003 in Irvine, California, United States by Ru Weerasuriya, Andrea Pessino, Didier Malenfant, and former members of the Sony Computer Entertainment subsidiary Naughty Dog.[1] They released their first game, Daxter, in 2006. The company finished working on their second PSP game, God of War: Chains of Olympus[3] as well as a Wii port of Ōkami, with added motion controls.[4] In June 2008 it was confirmed that the company had ceased developing games for the PSP, and that they had returned the relevant development kits to Sony.[5] However, reports claim that the developer received new development kits after returning. Their next game was God of War: Ghost of Sparta, collaboratively developed with Santa Monica Studio for the PSP, with their new proprietary engine. Ready at Dawn released the God of War: Origins Collection for the PlayStation 3 on September 13, 2011. This collection is a port of their two God of War games for the PSP, Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta, to the PS3 with high-definition graphics, DualShock 3 support, Trophies, and Stereoscopic 3D, the first God of War release to support this feature.

In October 2009, Ready at Dawn began working on a new game engine. The Ready at Dawn Engine is said to be a wholly console-centric platform, integrated with a suite of third-party tools that require no additional license. These tools include 3D content editing, audio, user interface, and asset management systems.[6] In July 2010, it was announced that Ready at Dawn had made thirteen employees redundant, citing difficulties in finding funding between projects behind the redundancies.[7] In early 2012, the company began hiring for the development of a third-person action-adventure game for a "next generation home console game system."[8] Ready at Dawn and Sony later revealed the game at E3 2013 as The Order: 1886. In June 2015, Ru Weerasuriya, the founder of the company, announced that his position as CEO will be replaced by Paul Sams and will step down to become the company's president and chief creative officer.[9] Ready at Dawn was in attendance at the large Chinese game publisher, Tencent’s UP Conference in April 2017, this was to announce a partnership to bring Ready at Dawn games into China. This partnership was headlined by bringing the game Deformers to China, although it was short lived due to the Deformers servers being shut down August 2018.

In July 2017, Ready at Dawn released Lone Echo and Echo Arena[10] exclusively for the Oculus Rift. Echo Arena has since been included in the VR League,[11] a VR esports segment of ESL, since Season 1. In November 2018, Ready at Dawn released Echo Combat,[12] a first-person shooter DLC using the same zero-g movement found in Echo Arena, and announced that the company had opened a satellite studio in Portland, Oregon.[13] It is to be believed that this new satellite studio is a part of the development of Ready at Dawn’s new project that was teased back in February 2018.

In July 2018, it was announced by CTO Andrea Pessino that all future development at the company would be done using the Rust programming language. This made Ready at Dawn one of the first game studios to adopt the language, as game development is primarily done using C or C++.

Oculus Studios, under Meta Platforms, acquired Ready at Dawn in June 2020 to develop VR titles for the platform.[14]

On January 31, 2023, Ready at Dawn announced they would be shutting down Echo Arena on August 1, 2023, to focus on future projects.[15]

The studio was hit by layoffs during April 2023 which resulted in roughly a third of the employees being laid off.[16]

Games developed
Game titleNorth American release datePlatformMetacritic score
DaxterMarch 14, 2006PlayStation Portable85/100[17]
God of War: Chains of OlympusMarch 4, 200891/100[18]
ŌkamiApril 15, 2008Wii90/100[19]
God of War: Ghost of SpartaNovember 2, 2010PlayStation Portable86/100[20]
God of War: Origins CollectionSeptember 13, 2011PlayStation 384/100[21]
The Order: 1886February 20, 2015PlayStation 463/100[22]
Deformers[23]April 21, 2017PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, Xbox One60/100[24]
Lone EchoJuly 20, 2017Oculus Rift89/100[25]
Echo ArenaJuly 20, 2017Oculus Rift, Meta Quest87/100[26]
Echo CombatNovember 15, 2018Oculus Rift80/100[27]
Lone Echo II[28]October 12, 2021 Oculus Rift78/100[29]

References
  1. "Naughty Dog director lured to Ready at Dawn by new IP". joystiq.com. August 3, 2007. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
  2. "E3 2014: Game developer Ready at Dawn rolls the dice with 'The Order: 1886′". Los Angeles Times. June 10, 2014. Archived from the original on August 11, 2017. Retrieved June 10, 2014.
  3. Roper, Chris (March 13, 2007). "God of War for PSP Confirmed". IGN. Archived from the original on July 23, 2011. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
  4. Bramwell, Tom (October 18, 2007). "Okami confirmed for Wii". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on October 19, 2007. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
  5. Martin, Matt (June 10, 2008). "Ready at Dawn officially finished with PSP development". gamesindustry.biz. Eurogamer. Archived from the original on February 7, 2012. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
  6. Crossley, Rob (October 12, 2008). "Ready at Dawn declares war with new engine". Develop. Intent Media. Archived from the original on February 25, 2012. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
  7. Thorsen, Tor (July 14, 2010). "God of War PSP studio axes 13". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on July 19, 2010. Retrieved July 14, 2010.
  8. Spencer (February 28, 2012). "Ready at Dawn Ramping Up For New Third Person Action/Adventure Game". Siliconera. Archived from the original on December 28, 2014. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
  9. Kato, Matthew (June 8, 2015). "The Order: 1886 Developer Ready at Dawn Expanding In New Directions". Game Informer. Archived from the original on June 9, 2015. Retrieved June 8, 2015.
  10. "Lone Echo multiplayer is Ender's Game meets ultimate frisbee in VR (update)". Polygon. June 12, 2017. Archived from the original on January 22, 2019. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  11. "Compete in the World's First VR Esports League: VR Challenger Brackets Now Open!". Oculus Blog. July 12, 2017. Archived from the original on January 22, 2019. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  12. "VR shooter Echo Combat has the best movement of any FPS I've played". PC Gamer. December 17, 2018. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  13. "Ready at Dawn Expands Operations into the Pacific Northwest". November 8, 2018. Archived from the original on November 9, 2018. Retrieved November 9, 2018.
  14. Gach, Ethan (June 22, 2020). "Facebook Buys Creators Of The Order: 1886". Kotaku. Archived from the original on June 23, 2020. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  15. "Echo VR Shuts Down On August 1, Ready At Dawn Announces". January 31, 2023. Archived from the original on January 31, 2023. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
  16. "Ready at Dawn reportedly heavily impacted by latest Meta layoffs". Eurogamer.net. April 20, 2023. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
  17. "Daxter for PSP". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on June 13, 2020. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
  18. "God of War: Chains of Olympus for PSP". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on March 14, 2012. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
  19. "Okami for Wii". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on February 12, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
  20. "God of War: Ghost of Sparta for PSP". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on December 28, 2011. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
  21. "God of War Origins Collection for PlayStation 3 Reviews - Metacritic". Archived from the original on June 13, 2020. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  22. "The Order: 1886 for PlayStation 4 Reviews - Metacritic". Archived from the original on August 20, 2015. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  23. "Prepare for an Epic Battle!". Ready at Dawn. June 2, 2016. Archived from the original on June 23, 2016. Retrieved June 17, 2016.
  24. "De-Formers for PlayStation 4 Reviews - Metacritic". Archived from the original on March 3, 2020. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  25. "Lone Echo for PC Reviews - Metacritic". Archived from the original on September 9, 2020. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  26. "Echo Arena for PC Reviews - Metacritic". Archived from the original on July 27, 2018. Retrieved December 15, 2018.
  27. "Echo Combat". Archived from the original on July 1, 2020. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
  28. "Lone Echo II Trailer". Oculus VR. Archived from the original on December 15, 2018. Retrieved December 15, 2018.
  29. "Lone Echo II". Archived from the original on October 26, 2021. Retrieved October 28, 2021.

Wawro, A. (n.d.). Ready at Dawn joins list of devs working with Tencent to launch games into China. Retrieved from http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/296511/Ready_At_Dawn_joins_list_of_devs_working_with_Tencent_to_launch_games_into_China.php

Kidwell, E. (n.d.). Ready at Dawn shuts down Deformers servers. Retrieved from https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/324451/Ready_at_Dawn_shuts_down_Deformers_servers.php

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