Avalanche Studios was founded by Christofer Sundberg and Linus Blomberg in early 2003. As one of the few fully independent, privately held AAA game studios in the world, Avalanche develops epic action games set in open world environments based on both original and licensed IPs.The studios first game, Just Cause, released in September 2006, met with great success and quickly established Avalanche as a studio at the forefront of open world game development. With a unique and proprietary games technology known as Avalanche Engine, Avalanche Studios’ design team was empowered to create groundbreaking games which opened many doors for a rapid company expansion. In 2007 and 2008, the company doubled in size and also moved to a new studio location, where it began work on three AAA projects based on original IP.
After experiencing the 2008 and 2009 recession, Avalanche Studios released Just Cause 2 in March 2010 on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. The game has since won numerous awards, including the IGN Editor’s Choice Award and has established a huge fanbase worldwide. Several DLC expansion packs and a PSN release followed.
In 2009 Avalanche Studios started a new studio – Expansive Worlds (www.expansiveworlds.com) to focus on socially-connected online games distributed directly to consumer. Expansive Worlds released its premiere title, theHunter (www.thehunter.com) in 2009, achieving a thriving subscriber base.
2011 was a very exciting year for Avalanche Studios as the studio released its first Xbox Live Arcade/PlayStation Network game, Renegade Ops, with a PC version distributed through Steam shortly thereafter. Based on the same underlying technology as Just Cause 2 and featuring massively destructible environments and 4 player online co-op, Renegade Ops received high praise from the international press.
Additionally in 2011, the company announced its expansion into North America with the opening of a new AAA development studio in Manhattan’s SoHo district. The New York studio officially opened its doors on November 15th, 2011 and is hard at work on Project Mamba, a console and PC title scheduled for release in 2014.
At present, Avalanche is working on three AAA projects based on original and licensed IPs for release in 2013 and 2014. The company employs more than 170 staff across its Stockholm and New York studios and continues to be owned and managed by its founders. The future of Avalanche Studios has never been brighter.