Product Code Database
Digital Extremes Ltd. is a Canadian video game developer founded in 1993 by James Schmalz. They are best known for creating Warframe, a free-to-play cooperative online action game, and co-creating Epic Games' Unreal series of games. Digital Extremes is headquartered in London, Ontario. In 2014, 61% of the company was sold to Chinese holding company Multi Dynamic, now Leyou, for $73 million. In May 2016 Leyou exercised a call option and increased their stake to 97% of Digital Extremes for a total consideration of $138.2 million US. In December 2020, Tencent bought Leyou for 1.3 billion dollars, which included the majority stake in Digital Extremes that Leyou held.
Unreal is a first-person shooter, released in 1998, and was followed up with Unreal Tournament in 1999, which received numerous industry awards. Subsequent sequels in the Unreal franchise include Unreal Championship, Unreal Tournament 2003, and Unreal Tournament 2004. The Unreal series has sold more than 15 million units worldwide across Windows, Mac, PlayStation 2, Dreamcast, Xbox, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and other platforms.
According to Scott Miller, the co-founder of the video game company 3D Realms, Digital Extremes was willing to take over development of their much-delayed game Duke Nukem Forever in 2004, but the proposal was rejected by others at 3D Realms, which Miller described as a "fatal suicide shot" for the project.
Digital Extremes released the original third-person shooter, Dark Sector, in 2008 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Windows. It uses the proprietary Evolution Engine.
Digital Extremes worked with 2K to develop the comic-book franchise video game sequel, The Darkness II, which met with positive reviews. Digital Extremes developed the PlayStation 3 version of BioShock, as well as developed the multiplayer component of the sequel, BioShock 2, while simultaneously developing the multiplayer portion of THQ's first-person shooter Homefront.
Digital Extremes developed the game for the 2013 Star Trek Into Darkness film, working with Bandai Namco and Paramount to develop Star Trek, which was poorly received.
In October 2014, Sumpo Food Holdings Ltd. acquired a majority share of Digital Extremes, with Perfect World Co. acquiring minority shares. Sumpo was rebranded as Leyou in 2015, and by June 2016, had purchased the remaining shares in Digital Extremes.
In 2016, it was revealed that Digital Extremes' game Warframe had been hacked, exposing the email addresses of more than 700,000 players.
Digital Extremes opened a development studio in Toronto, Canada, and began operations in January 2018.
In December 2020, Leyou was acquired by Tencent, which included Digital Extremes. The developer stated that this would not change how they operate as they remained independent of Tencent, though through Tencent they would be able to provide better support for the Chinese version of the Warframe client.
In October 2023, James Schmalz stepped down as CEO, with former Warframe director Steve Sinclair promoted to CEO. Community manager Rebecca Ford became the game's new director. In the following month, Digital Extremes reportedly laid off about 30 employees, mostly from their external projects division. While the layoffs were confirmed, the company would not state how many people were affected. They also terminated their partnership with Airship Syndicate, returning Wayfinder to their control.
Digital Extremes worked with developer n-Space to develop the fantasy role-playing video game, Sword Coast Legends, set within the Dungeons & Dragons franchise.
Digital Extremes worked with Madison, Wisconsin-based developer Human Head Studios to publish Survived By, a free-to-play bullet-hell MMO with crafting and role-playing elements. Survived By was shut down as of April 2019.
During TennoCon 2022, Digital Extremes announced Soulframe, an upcoming fantasy MMORPG. It also said that it would be publishing a massively multiplayer online game from Airship Syndicate, Wayfinder, but after Wayfinder release in August 2023, Digital Extremes cut their external games division, leaving Wayfinder under Airship Syndicate's control.
In early 2018, Warframe won the People's Voice Webby Award for Best Action Game, and Promax Awards Best Marketing Campaign of the Year Award. In March 2018, Noclip published the video documentary on the making of Warframe. The two-part feature tells the story of how Warframe succeeded as an independently developed and published game that changed the course of Digital Extremes.
Digital Extremes' employment environment has been recognized as one of Canada's Top Employers for 2010, 2011, 2012 and through to 2018. Additionally, the company has been recognized as one of Canada's top employers for Young People. In 2010 and 2011, the Financial Post named Digital Extremes one of the 10 best companies to work for in Canada.
On the provincial level, Digital Extremes received the Ontario Small Business Award in 2010. Digital Extremes was also presented with the Large Business of the Year award in 2011 from the London Chamber of Commerce. Digital Extremes was also awarded the Excellence in Human Resources award from The London Chamber of Commerce in early 2012.
| 1993 | Solar Winds | MS-DOS |
| 1993 | Epic Pinball | MS-DOS |
| 1993 | Silverball | MS-DOS |
| 1995 | Extreme Pinball | MS-DOS, PlayStation |
| 1998 | Unreal | Windows, Mac OS |
| 1999 | Unreal Tournament | Windows, Mac OS, Linux, PlayStation 2, Dreamcast |
| 2001 | Windows | |
| 2002 | Unreal Championship | Xbox |
| 2002 | Unreal Tournament 2003 | Windows, Mac OS, Linux |
| 2004 | Unreal Tournament 2004 | Windows, Mac OS, Linux |
| 2005 | Pariah | Windows, Xbox |
| 2006 | Warpath | Windows, Xbox |
| 2008 | Dark Sector | Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 |
| 2008 | BioShock (PS3 port) | PlayStation 3 |
| 2010 | BioShock 2 (multiplayer) | Windows, Mac OS, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 |
| 2011 | Homefront (multiplayer) | Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 |
| 2012 | The Darkness II | Windows, Mac OS, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 |
| 2013 | Warframe | Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, iOS |
| 2013 | Star Trek | Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 |
| 2015 | Sword Coast Legends | Windows, Mac OS, Linux, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 |
| Canceled | The Amazing Eternals | Windows |
| 2018 | Survived By (published) | Windows |
| TBA | Soulframe | Windows |
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