Deep Silver GmbH

**Deep Silver** is the European video game publishing & developing division for the company's Mass media parent Koch Media. Deep Silver owns three game development studios: Volition, based in Champaign, Illinois, is the developer of the *Saints Row* series, Dambuster Studios, based in Nottingham, England, developed *Homefront: The Revolution*, and Fishlabs, based in Hamburg, Germany, develops mobile games, most notably, the *Galaxy on Fire* series. Eugenio Vitale serves as "director of games development" for Deep Silver.

## Overview

Deep Silver is the European publishing division of Koch Media for full price games, operating in Germany, UK, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, France, and Spain. In each of those countries it acts as the label of the local Koch Media subsidiary.

They also apply the label to certain games they distribute but not publish. In the USA the games are published through Deep Silver Inc. But the games are mostly developed by their official European counterpart *Deep Silver GmbH*.

## History

Deep Silver was announced in November 2002, with their first game to release being *Anarchy Online: The Notum Wars*. According to Craig McNichol, who ran Koch Media's England branch, the idea behind Deep Silver was to have a business segment that would develop games that would complement the games Koch Media was distributing on behalf of other publishers. McNichol also stated that Deep Silver's name was subject to much internal discussion. Koch Media invested Template:€ in Deep Silver in July 2003, and in November 2003, all of Koch Media's game publishing operations (excluding distribution) were reallocated to Deep Silver. The division had been continuously active since, primarily in Europe. In April 2008, Koch Media opened Deep Silver, Inc., a subsidiary branch based in Los Angeles, under Deep Silver's name. In August 2007, Games That Matter, a studio founded by former Rockstar Vienna employees in 2006, was acquired by Koch Media and became part of Deep Silver under the name Deep Silver Vienna. Co-founders Niki Laber and Hannes Seifert had left the studio by January 2010, at which point Deep Silver Vienna was shut down. Deep Silver Vienna has only produced one game, *Cursed Mountain*, which was developed in association with Sproing Interactive and released in August 2009 for Wii.

Deep Silver first gained widespread attention until their release of *Dead Island* and their acquisition of Volition. *Dead Island* had been their first release to reach the top spot on sales charts in September 2011, and they acquired Volition in January 2013, alongside the rights to the *Metro* series, from the bankruptcy proceedings of THQ. Deep Silver also acquired a minority interest in Berlin-based free-to-play game developer Infernum Productions in December 2012. In February 2013, Deep Silver announced its intentions to expand into the mobile games market.

In December 2013, Fishlabs, which had filed for self-administration the previous October, was acquired by Koch Media and became Deep Silver's dedicated mobile game studio. As the agreement was an asset deal, the legal entity of the studio was dissolved and Fishlabs was reorganized as a division, officially known as Deep Silver Fishlabs. In July 2014, Deep Silver acquired the rights to *Homefront* and its in-development sequel, *Homefront: The Revolution*, from German developer Crytek. Dambuster Studios (officially, Deep Silver Dambuster Studios) was established to continue the development of *The Revolution*, succeeding Crytek UK. Later on the same day, Crytek announced that Crytek UK would be closed, and all of its staff transferred to Dambuster Studios. In August 2018, Koch Media acquired the rights to the *TimeSplitters* games, which would be overseen by Deep Silver.

## Criticism

In January 2013, Deep Silver announced a special edition of their then-upcoming game *Dead Island: Riptide*, titled *Zombie Bait Edition*, which would include a statuette of a mutilated female torso in Europe and Australia. After strong criticism over the item, Deep Silver initially offered an apology, stating that they were "deeply sorry" and promising consumers that something like that would not happen again. However, when the game was released in April that year, the bust was still included, generating further backlash.

In January 2019, Deep Silver partnered with Epic Games on a one-year exclusivity deal for the personal computer (PC) version of their upcoming game *Metro Exodus* on Epic's digital distribution storefront, the Epic Games Store. Through this deal, *Metro Exodus* was removed from Steam, another digital distribution storefront, where Deep Silver had been selling pre-orders for the game since August 2018. Additionally, the deal was made and announced less than three weeks prior to game's release, causing criticism and confusion among critics and fans of the *Metro* franchise. Valve, the company behind Steam, labeled the move as unfair to consumers, while fans review-bombed previous entries of the series on Steam.

## Mitchell Games developed

* Mitchell Van Morgan 11: Episode 1 (Console & PC version)
* Mitchell Van Morgan 11: Episode 2 (Console & PC version)
* Mitchell Van Morgan 11: Episode 3 (Console & PC version)

## The Development Team

### **Volition**

**Deep Silver Volition, LLC** (formerly **Parallax Software Corporation** and **Volition, Inc.**) is an American video game developer based in Champaign, Illinois. The company was founded as Parallax Software in June 1993 by Mike Kulas and Matt Toschlog, and developed *Descent* and *Descent II*. The company split in two, wherein Toschlog founded Outrage Entertainment, while Kulas stayed with Parallax, which was renamed Volition in November 1996. Volition was acquired by THQ in August 2000, and when THQ filed for bankruptcy and had its assets sold off, Volition changed hands to Deep Silver in January 2013. Volition is best known for their *Red Faction* and *Saints Row* series of games.

#### History of Volition

The studio was established as Volition, Inc. in November 1996 in Champaign, Illnois (USA). Initially it was a part of the development studio Parallax Software. After making Descent II Parallax decided to split up its offices in Champaign and Ann Arbor (Michigan) into two separate companies. The Ann Arbor office became Outrage Entertainment and the one in Champaign became Volition. Both companies shared technologies, message boards and even had a common online matchmaking service, called PXO. The Volition staff was lead by Michael Kulas. In the early years the studio focused entirely on games in the space combat Freespace series.

In 2000, Volition, along with it PXO service, was acquired by THQ. The studio then made very different types of games, such as the Summoner RPG series (2000-2002) and the licensed action game The Punisher (2005). In those years the studio became especially known for the Red Faction action games (2001-2011) and the Saints Row series (since 2006). THQ also acquired the other Parallax studio Outrage Entertainment in 2002, renaming it Outrage Games, but closed it in 2004 after contributions to the PC version of Red Faction II.

In August 2012 THQ canceled InSane, the game Volition had been working on with movie director Guillermo del Toro. The rights were returned to the director. Following the closure of parent company THQ in January 2013, Volition was sold to Koch Media for 22.3 million dollars and became Deep Silver Volition. The first game for Deep Silver was Saints Row IV (2013). Deep Silver did not acquire the rights to the Red Faction and Summoner franchises, as those were sold to Nordic Games GmbH.

In 2014, the company was led by Dan Cermak and had circa 300 employees. On 27 September 2017, it was announced that 30 people were laid off after the disappointing performance of Agents of Mayhem, including general manager Dan Cermak. In October of the same year, Jim Boone returned as studio development director.

#### Mitchell Games developed

* Paper Mitchell 2
* Super Paper Mitchell

### **Deep Silver Fishlabs**

**Deep Silver Fishlabs** (formerly **Fishlabs Entertainment GmbH**) is a German video game developer based in Hamburg. Founded in 2004 by Michael Schade and Christian Lohr, the studio is best known for its *Galaxy on Fire* series, which includes *Galaxy on Fire*, *Galaxy on Fire 2* and *Galaxy on Fire: Alliances*. Following a brief bankruptcy proceeding, Fishlabs was acquired by Koch Media and reorganised as part of their game publishing label, Deep Silver. As of July 2018, the company employs 70 people.

#### History of Deep Silver Fishlabs

Fishlabs was founded as Fishlabs Entertainment GmbH in 2004 by Michael Schade and Christian Lohr. Also in 2004, the company received a round of financing, which allowed them to pay for development expenses for several years while generating revenue from their releases. The company had also planned a series B round in May 2010, as they announced that would be moving into the massively multiplayer online games market. By mid-2013, Fishlabs had run out of money; in October, 25 jobs were cut before the company went into self-administration. On 2 December, media company Koch Media announced that they had acquired Fishlabs, which would henceforth operate as the dedicated mobile studio of their game publishing label, Deep Silver. As the agreement was an asset deal, all of Fishlab's assets, including 52 employees, were transferred to Koch Media and incorporated in a new division of that company, called Deep Silver Fishlabs. The company's former legal entity, Fishlabs Entertainment GmbH, was to be dissolved, and both founders left the company. As result of the change in ownership, and the associated financial stability, Fishlabs also moved into video game publishing.

#### Mitchell Games developed

* Mitchell Van Morgan 11: Episode 1 (Mobile)
* Mitchell Van Morgan 11: Episode 2 (Mobile)
* Mitchell Van Morgan 11: Episode 3 (Mobile)
* Mitchell Van Morgan 12 (Mobile)

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Handrahan, Matthew (4 February 2013). Koch Media: "We are not ambitious to be the next THQ".
2. ↑ Hussain, Tamoor (16 February 2018). Saints Row, Metro, Dead Island Publisher Koch Media Acquired By THQ Nordic.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Sarkar, Samit (30 July 2014). Deep Silver buys Homefront from Crytek, moves Homefront: The Revolution to new studio.
4. ↑ Dring, Christopher (9 October 2017). Life after Agents of Mayhem: Where now for Volition?.
5. ↑ Steininger, Stefan (12 November 2002). Koch Media etabliert neues Label für Games.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 McNichol, Craig (5 August 2014). Twenty years of Koch Media.
7. ↑ Koch Media investiert 500.000 Euro in Deep Silver.
8. ↑ Koch Media konzentriert Spielepublishing auf Deep Silver.
9. ↑ MCV Editors (30 April 2008). Koch Media expands into US.
10. ↑ Martin, Matt (22 August 2007). Koch acquires Games That Matter.
11. ↑ Brice, Kath (1 February 2010). Koch closes Deep Silver Vienna studio.
12. ↑ Koch Media schließt Deep Silver Vienna.
13. ↑ Alexander, Leigh (1 February 2010). Deep Silver Closes Vienna Studio.
14. ↑ MCV Editors (15 September 2011). Deep Silver Dead pleased with first No.1.
15. ↑ Goldfarb, Andrew (23 January 2013). THQ Dissolved, Saints Row, Company of Heroes Devs Acquired.
16. ↑ Handrahan, Matthew (18 December 2012). Koch Media invests in F2P dev Infernum Productions.
17. ↑ Weber, Rachel (26 February 2013). Deep Silver planning move into mobile.
18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Corriea, Alexa Ray (2 December 2013). Galaxy on Fire developer Fishlabs purchased by Koch Media.
19. ↑ Chapple, Craig (14 May 2014). 'It was the hardest time we've ever gone through': How Fishlabs came back from the brink.
20. ↑ Sarkar, Samit (30 July 2014). Homefront: The Revolution devs to move to Deep Silver as Crytek scales back two studios.
21. ↑ Dransfield, Ian (15 August 2018). Timesplitters license acquired by Koch Media.
22. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (23 April 2013). Dead Island: Riptide edition with severed torso statue still available in Europe, Australia.
23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Parfitt, Ben (23 April 2013). So Deep Silver went ahead and shipped the Dead Island Riptide Zombie Bait Edition regardless.
24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Williams, Mike (29 January 2019). Metro Exodus' Sudden Switch to Epic Really is Unfair.
25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Orland, Kyle (28 January 2019). Epic Games Store snags Metro Exodus away from Steam [Updated].
26. ↑ Chalk, Andy (30 January 2019). Players protest Epic's Metro Exodus exclusive by review-bombing the series on Steam.
27. ↑ Etherington, Darrell (11 February 2013). Galaxy On Fire Space Sim MMO For iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch Coming In Q3 2013.
28. ↑ Deutschlands größte Spielehersteller 2018 (de) (2 July 2018).
29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 29.3 Corriea, Alexa Ray (2 December 2013). Galaxy on Fire developer Fishlabs purchased by Koch Media.
30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 30.3 30.4 Chapple, Craig (14 May 2014). 'It was the hardest time we've ever gone through': How Fishlabs came back from the brink.
31. ↑ vaughn597 (12 May 2010). Next10: Fishlabs to move into mobile MMOGs, Series B round planned.

## External links

* Deep Silver at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

* Koch Media official website
* Deep Silver official website
* Deep Silver on MobyGames