Zombie Studios closes doors

Zombie Studios is a developer with a long history in the video game industry. Opening its doors in 1994, the studio was formed by Joanna Alexander and Mark Long, and is well known for its creation of the Spec Ops series of tactical shooters. More recently, the developer released the free-to-play first person shooter Blacklight: Retribution and horror title Daylight.

All in all, Zombie Studios has developed, or had involvement in, over 30 games since the studio's launch. It's a commendable haul over the course of 20 years, with titles for every device under the sun. The studio even teamed up with the US military for a series of training and recruitment games, including America's Army. Now, however, Zombie Studios is calling it a day. The developer is closing its doors after two decades in the industry.

The news was revealed on the official Zombie Studios website, with a thank you note to fans for the developer's games and an explanation [Update: This has disappeared at the time of this writing]. As it stands, after 20 years, the owners of the independent developer are retiring - and closing down the studio with them. "The owners of Zombie Studios are retiring," reads the post, "and wish to thank you, our fans for the years of support you have provided us." Here's the full letter from Zombie Studios:

The end of Zombie Studios, however, is not the end of the games that the developer created or were working on. Instead, a number of ex-Zombie Studios employees have formed a new studio named Builder Box Games, and will continue the ownership and development of some Zombie Studios titles. This includes the ongoing work of Blacklight: Retribution, which is available on PC and PS4.

Zombie Studios offered its support for Builder Box Games in its goodbye message. "We want to congratulate and wish nothing but success to Builder Box," reads the post. "The new studio is comprised of past Zombie employees that put their hearts into Blacklight and we have no doubts will continue to do so." Builder Box Games is headed up by Andy Kipling and Russell Nelson, the former Zombie Studios director of production and technical director respectively.

Kipling and Nelson, the co-CEOs of the new studio, were also able to reiterate that the same minds are sticking with Blacklight: Retribution. On a Facebook post on Builder Box Games' page, Kipling and Nelson stated that "while ownership of the game has changed, the people behind the scenes who have been constantly contributing to the Blacklight universe for the last four years remains intact." The post also said that the developer will continue to have a strong relationship with Blacklight: Retribution's publisher, Perfect World.

So that's it for Zombie Studios - albeit with an undead return in the form of Builder Box Games. What do you make of the studio's closure? Are you sad to see the developer go? Or do you think Builder Box Games will continue the company's style in all but name? Let us know in the comments.

Source: Zombie Studios