Games Merchandise News Support Company About Us Founded in 1990, Team17 Digital Limited is a leading independent developer and digital publisher headquartered in West Yorkshire (UK). Team17 publishes games for PC, console, mobile and handheld devices and other digital platforms. A history The company was originally called 17-Bit Software, which grew out of the Microbyte retail chain in 1987, and specialised in cataloguing, producing and publishing an Amiga public domain software library.17-Bit Software was controversial as it sold demos from the Amiga demoscene which were not released as public domain, without having any agreements with the demo groups, or attempting to reimburse them. In 1990, a group of developers called "Team 7" approached 17-Bit to publish their new game. They combined to form "Team17" and in 1991 published Full Contact for the Amiga. Team17's intention was to produce a game that made use of the Amiga's unique capabilities and was not just a port of an Atari ST game; Full Contact was praised as one of the best beat 'em ups for the Amiga. Team17 went on to develop many further Amiga games, like Alien Breed, Assassin, Project-X and Body Blows. Team17 also published titles in the UK for other developers such as AUDIOS and Eclipse UK. Almost all early titles were the result of liaising with freelance developers; there were few in-house developers. In 1995, Team17 entered into an agreement with Ocean Software whereby Ocean would co-publish Team17's titles worldwide. The first title to be released under this agreement was Alien Breed 3D for the Amiga and Amiga CD32 systems. The second title was Worms, Team17's biggest success to date, and Team17's first multiple format release; the game was released in late 1995 and early 1996 for the Amiga, PC MS-DOS, Apple Macintosh, PlayStation, Super Nintendo, Game Boy, Atari Jaguar, Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and Sega Saturn, with a version planned for release on the Virtual Boy, although this was cancelled following the poor release of the console in Japan. Worms outsold FIFA 96 and Tomb Raider, topped the UK all-formats video game chart and won several awards. Team17 developed several of the console ports themselves, the others were produced by East Point Software. Since the release of Worms, the franchise has gone on to be very successful, selling over 12 million units worldwide. This all-platform success contributed towards Team17's decision to cease publishing Amiga titles in 1997, as the platform had long been in a state of decline. They released Worms: The Director's Cut exclusively on the Amiga as a swan song. Team17 then focused on the PC market, releasing titles such as Nightlong: Union City Conspiracy, Phoenix, and Addiction Pinball, although they also produced some console-exclusive titles such as X2. In 2003, Team17 released Worms 3D for the PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube, the first title in the franchise that brought the game into three dimensions. While critically acclaimed, the game disappointed some fans who felt it did not match the simplicity and playability of the 2D titles. Team17 went on to release Worms 4: Mayhem in 2005 for PC, PS2 and Xbox. For the handheld DS and PSP consoles, Team17 published Worms: Open Warfare in 2006, and Worms: Open Warfare 2 in 2007. Team17 brought Worms to Xbox LIVE in 2007, this new release being largely based on Worms: Open Warfare, but featuring online multiplayer and downloadable content. This game also made it to the PlayStation Network in 2009. Team17 developed not only their own titles during the 2000s, but also wrote games for other publishers' franchises. They made Army Men: Major Malfunction in 2006, ported Lemmings to the PSP, and created Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust in 2009. During this period, they were also short-listed for the "British developer of the year" by The Golden Joystick Awards. In December 2009, Team17 returned to their own franchise with the launch of Alien Breed Evolution for Xbox LIVE Arcade, later ported to the PlayStation Network and the PC. On August 26, 2010, Team17 released Worms Reloaded, while on September 21, 2010, Worms: Battle Islands for Wii and PSP was announced with THQ. Worms returned in 3D on September 28th 2011 when Worms Ultimate Mayhem was released on PC via Steam. The game was subsequently released on both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on February 14th 2012. Single Player, Multiplayer and Customisation DLC packs were also made available. October 10th 2012 saw the release of Worms Revolution on the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The game returned to the traditional 2D gameplay favoured by the majority fans but saw the action taking place in a 3D environment. The introduction of classes (soldier, scientist, heavy and scout), physics objects and dynamic water were welcome additions to the game. Mars, Funfair and Medieval Tales DLC added extra weapons, customisation and landscapes and were released shortly after the games release. Worms Revolution was a critical hit and many fans particulatly enjoyed the game’s narration, voiced by actor Matt Berry (the IT Crowd, Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace & the Mighty Boosh). Team17 resurrected the original version of Alien Breed for both iPhone and iPad in August 24th 2012, receiving an “App Store Best of 2012” award in the process. Co-op and cross play were added for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita versions which were released on February 6th 2013. Alien Breed is also available for Android, Kindle Fire, PlayStation Mobile and BlackBerry PlayBook. Team17 is still an independent games studio with around 75 staff members. This makes it one of the longest surviving independent developers, now into its 24th year. © 2013 Team17 Digital Limited | Careers | About | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | Contact Us