People Can Fly
 | |
| Private | |
| Industry | Video game industry |
| Founded | February 2002 |
| Headquarters | Warsaw, Poland |
Key people | Sebastian Kamil Wojciechowski |
| Products |
Painkiller Bulletstorm Gears of War: Judgment |
Number of employees | 60[1] |
| Website |
www |
People Can Fly Sp. z o.o. and for a time known as Epic Games Poland, is a video game developer established in February 2002 by Adrian Chmielarz and based in Warsaw, Poland. Their first video game was Painkiller, but many of their members had already worked on various titles before this. Some members helped create 10 different titles since 1992, with the best known being Gorky 17, or Odium in the United States. The team currently consists of 60 members, excluding external contractors.
The name "People Can Fly" was chosen after checking the names of several albums and song titles. On August 20, 2007, Epic Games acquired a majority share in the company.[2] The firm subsequently rebranded itself as Epic Games Poland on November 1, 2013.[3] However on June 24, 2015 it was announced they had become once again independent and they will revert to using their old name and logo.[4]
History
During an interview for Polish console games magazine Neo Plus, Adrian Chmielarz described Epic's acquisition of People Can Fly as a multi-step process. Facing issues with extending its proprietary engine, People Can Fly considered using a third-party solution. This led to an interest in the Unreal Engine, which led to contacting Epic Games. After presenting a demo to Epic Games, People Can Fly was hired to create additional content for the PC version of Gears of War. Impressed with the quality of the collaboration, Epic decided to shift the PC porting effort to the studio. The success of the Gears of War port led to the formal acquisition.[5]
In August 2008, Epic announced that Electronic Arts would be the publisher of an action title by People Can Fly. In April 2010, it was revealed to be Bulletstorm, a first-person shooter in development with Epic Games. It was originally going to be one of the two titles revealed by Cliff Bleszinski (the other title being Gears of War 3) during his appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, but due to scheduling reasons, the announcement was cancelled.[6]
On June 1, 2012, it was announced that People Can Fly will be involved in the development of Gears of War: Judgment.[7]
On August 13, 2012, Epic Games announced that it has fully acquired People Can Fly.[8] In another announcement on the same day, People Can Fly co-owner and creative director Adrian Chmielarz announced his departure from the company.[9]
On June 24, 2015, People Can Fly announced that they would be split from their parent company Epic Games, a process that had begun with the release of Gears of War: Judgement. As a result, the studio became independent and will be led by Sebastian Wojciechowski. The company retained the Bulletstorm franchise and revealed an unannounced project based on Unreal Engine 4.[4]
Games developed
| Year | Game | Publisher | Notes | Platform(s) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PC | Xbox | PS3 | X360 | ||||
| 2004 | Painkiller | DreamCatcher Interactive | First game developed by People can Fly | Yes | No | No | No |
| 2004 | Painkiller: Battle Out of Hell | DreamCatcher Interactive | Expansion pack for Painkiller | Yes | No | No | No |
| 2006 | Painkiller: Hell Wars | DreamCatcher Interactive | A Xbox port for the original Painkiller | No | Yes | No | No |
| 2007 | Gears of War | Microsoft Game Studios | PC port only. | Yes | No | No | No |
| 2008 | Gears of War 2 | Microsoft Game Studios | Co-developed with Epic Games | No | No | No | Yes |
| 2011 | Duty Calls: The Calm Before the Storm | Electronic Arts | A promo game for PC | Yes | No | No | No |
| 2011 | Bulletstorm | Electronic Arts | Co-developed with Epic Games | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| 2013 | Gears of War: Judgment | Microsoft Studios | First game developed after acquisition by Epic Games | No | No | No | Yes |
| 2017 | Fortnite | Epic Games | Co-developed with Epic Games | Yes | No | No | No |
| Canceled | Come Midnight | THQ | The game was scheduled for a 2007 release before being canceled[10] | No | No | Yes | Yes |
References
- ↑ Epic's Mark Rein on UE4, Epic Baltimore and Gears of War: Judgment
- ↑ Epic Games buys People Can Fly studio
- ↑ Sarkar, Samit (2013-11-01). "People Can Fly now known as Epic Games Poland". Polygon. Retrieved 2013-11-01.
- 1 2 Hussain, Tamoor (June 24, 2015). "People Can Fly Turns Independent, Buys Bulletstorm IP". GameSpot. Retrieved June 24, 2015.
- ↑ Neo+ Issue #103, October 2007 "Ludzie potrafią latać" – interview with Adrian Chmielarz
- ↑ "EA SIGNS PUBLISHING DEAL WITH EPIC GAMES". 2008-08-21. Retrieved 2011-03-24.
- ↑ The COG and Locust Return in "Gears of War: Judgment"
- ↑ Epic Games buys People Can Fly
- ↑ "Gears of War Judgment creative director leaves studio". Gamespot. Retrieved 9 December 2012.
- ↑ Purchese, Robert (19 May 2014). "Why THQ canned Bulletstorm dev's LA Noire-like game, Come Midnight". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Retrieved 19 May 2014.