Digital Chocolate

Digital Chocolate, Inc. was a video game developer and publisher headquartered in San Mateo, California. It was founded in 2003 by Trip Hawkins, the founder of video game companies Electronic Arts and The 3DO Company. The company focused on developing games for Java ME-based mobile phones, iOS, and Microsoft Windows, and made some non-entertainment titles. Its marketing motto was Seize the minute.

Digital Chocolate, Inc.
TypePrivate
IndustryVideo games
PredecessorThe 3DO Company
FoundedOctober 18, 2003 (2003-10-18)[1]
FounderTrip Hawkins
Defunct2014
FateGames sold to RockYou
SuccessorRockYou
Headquarters
San Mateo, California
,
U.S.
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Marc Metis
(President)[2]
Edmond Chui
(VP of Engineering)[2]
Number of employees
129[2]
Websitedigitalchocolate.com (offline)

The developer was officially closed in 2014. It has sold its games to RockYou, and its website was shut down.

History

Digital Chocolate was founded in 2003 by Hawkins after the failure of The 3DO Company. It had operations in San Mateo, Seattle, St. Petersburg, Bangalore, Helsinki, and Mexicali.

In 2004, Digital Chocolate acquired European developer Sumea,[3] which then became its Helsinki studio.

On August 15, 2011, Digital Chocolate agreed to acquire Sandlot Games, a leading casual game developer and publisher.[4]

In May 2012, Trip Hawkins stepped down as CEO to move to a "consulting and advisory relationship" with the company. The company also announced plans to lay off 180 employees.[5]

Galaxy Life is its most successful title on Facebook to date, ranking at 284th bucket of MAU (Monthly Active Users) as of September 13, 2013. [6] In 2013, Digital Chocolate's Barcelona studio was sold to Ubisoft with the Galaxy Life IP and the Helsinki studio was closed.[7][8][9]

In April 2014, Digital Chocolate's four remaining Facebook games — Army Attack, Crazy Penguin Wars, Millionaire City, and Zombie Lane — were licensed to RockYou, along with the hiring of its developers to continue work on the games.[10][11][12]

Games

Awards

In 2009, the company's game Brick Breaker Revolution won an IGN award for Best Artistic Design.[17]

Mobile Entertainment named the company "best mobile games developer" in 2006 and 2007.[18]

In 2006, Digital Chocolate received nine IGN Game of the Year awards. Its game Tornado Mania! was awarded Wireless Game of the Year with a "perfect 10" score,[19] and the company was named Best Developer.[20]

In 2012, the company's game Army Attack was nominated for the "Social Networking Game of the Year" in the Academy of Interactive Arts & Science's 15th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards.[21]

The company has been included in The Red Herring Global 100.[22]

References
  1. "DigitalChocolate.com WHOIS, DNS, & Domain Info - DomainTools". WHOIS. Retrieved 2021-09-13.
  2. "Digital Chocolate On Linkedin". Retrieved 2021-09-13.
  3. "News". Retrieved 2021-09-13.
  4. "Digital Chocolate Acquires Highly-Respected Sandlot Games". Business Wire. August 15, 2011. Archived from the original on April 5, 2016. Retrieved 2021-09-13.
  5. "Digital Chocolate lays off 180 people, Hawkins stands down as CEO". VG247. 2012-05-28. Retrieved 2021-09-13.
  6. "AppData - App Metrics and Research". Archived from the original on 2013-10-05. Retrieved 2013-09-14.
  7. "Digital Chocolate, Which Nurtured Some Of Gaming's Best Talent, Sells Its Barcelona Studio To Ubisoft". TechCrunch. AOL.
  8. "[PC][MOBILE] Galaxy Life joins the Ubisoft family! - Forums".
  9. "Digital Chocolate to Close Helsinki Office".
  10. Christian Nutt (18 April 2014). "Gamasutra - RockYou's new strategy: Rescue games that other publishers don't want".
  11. "Players of Army Attack, Crazy Penguin Wars, Millionaire City, and Zombie Lane: Welcome to RockYou's Growing Community of Worldwide Gamers!".
  12. "RockYou buys three Playdom games from Disney to keep them running". VentureBeat. 18 April 2014.
  13. "Sony Ericsson W595 Pre-installed Games". YouTube.
  14. Andrew, Keith (December 5, 2008). "Party Island: Sexy Trivia". Pocket Gamer. Steel Media Ltd. Archived from the original on December 6, 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  15. https://phoneky.com/java-software/?id=a9a41905. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  16. Williams, Andrew (March 27, 2008). "Strip Club Manager". Pocket Gamer. Steel Media Ltd. Archived from the original on March 30, 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  17. "3D Brick Breaker Revolution Makes Its Debut on Apple App Store" (Press release). Business Wire. 2009-03-16. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
  18. Michael French (2007-08-17). "Digital Chocolate wins ME award again". Retrieved 2013-09-05.
  19. "IGN.com presents The Best of 2006". IGN. Archived from the original on January 15, 2007. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
  20. "Digital Chocolate Sweeps IGN.com 2006 Game of the Year Awards" (Press release). Business Wire. 2007-01-16. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
  21. http://www.interactive.org/images/pdfs/15th-Annual-IAA-Finalists-Only.pdf
  22. http://www.monitise.com/americas/downloads/awards/RedHerringGlobal100_ClairMail.pdf
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