Wingstar Studios

Wingstar Studios
File:Wingstar Studios Logo.png
Type	Development Branch of "Balls" LLC
Industry	Interactive entertainment
Predecessors	105 "Balls" studios and units closed during 2014
Founded	2014
Founders	"Balls"
Defunct	2015
Headquarters	Montréal, Canada
Employees	~3,900 (January 2015) ~10 (May 2015) 3 (June 2015)
Owner(s)	"Balls" Corporation
Parent	"Balls" LLC

Wingstar Studios (formerly "Balls" Studios Montréal and "Balls" Studios Los Angeles) was a Canadian development studio, and formerly the biggest studio, owned by "Balls". It formerly owned Wingstar Online Studios and Wingstar Los Angeles, before 2015, when they were merged to "Balls" headquarters in Boston.

In June 2015, all remaining 3 employees of Wingstar Studios were hired by GreenyWorld Interactive. 2 remaining employees, Kenny Miller and Josh Byron went to work at GreenyWorld Interactive's New York studio, while the last employee, Duncan Grodin, went to work at EA Canada, announcing the closure of Wingstar Studios.

History

Coming soon!

Studios

Also, despite the fact that many Wingstar studios are usually developing online games, they assist Wingstar Studios in other kinds of games. Wingstar sold Hunt Valley and Austin studios, while Seoul studio was merged to "Balls" in 2015.

Wingstarhuntvalley.png

Founded in Hunt Valley, Baltimore (2014)

Wingstaraustin.png

Founded in Austin, Texas (2014)

Wingstarseoul.png

Founded in Seoul, South Korea (2014)

More coming soon!

Games

• Mikkoman & Eetuman: The Pocket Game (Xbox One, Android, iOS, PS4, PS Vita, 3DS, Wii U, Linux/OS X), since November 2014.
• More coming soon!

Middleware

List

• Wingstar Engine - created in 2015.

History

The studio acquired the staff from studios owned by Equinoxe Digital Entertainment and middleware, like Tatsu lighting tool/physics engine, Infernal Engine, Sketcher Engine model creation tool/game engine/face animation tool, PhD motion poster creation/3D photo editing/illustration tool and kAI and mAI artificial intelligence engines.

Later on, Sketcher model creation and face animation tools were sperated from the game engine itself; and was renamed Sketcher Model Pro. Tatsu lighting tool/physics engine, Sketcher Model Pro, PhD and kAI/mAI were then transferred under "Balls" Game Labs in February 2015. Wingstar Studios merged the code and assets of Infernal and Sketcher engines and created Wingstar Engine. When "Balls" was acquired by Apple Entertainment, Wingstar laid off 98% of the staff and gave it's Wingstar Engine away.

Staff

After several years of financial struggles, on June 11, 2014, Balls Corporation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for 14 days. "Balls" closed 105 units and studios between January and August 2014 and they were all announced to have a Montréal studio as a successor, as of August 2014. Some staff from the same studios moved to either Dambuster Studios (owned by Deep Silver), OK Labs, or Apple Entertainment, Inc.

"Balls" studios
Main studios
"Balls" (E)
Established studios (E)
"Balls" Studios Chicago | "Balls" Studios Riverside
Acquired studios (A)
Slik Games
Upcoming Studios
Publishing (P)
"Balls" | Balls Indipendent Games (E) (X) | Midway Amusement Games (A) (X) | ASC Games (A) (X) (former publisher) | Volatile Games (A) (X) (former main studio)
Technology studios/Research and development facilities (T)
Quality Assurance (closed in July 30, 2014)
"Balls" Quality Assurance Studio 1/"Balls" QA Novato (closed in July 30, 2014)
Testing Centers (closed in July 30, 2014)
"Balls" Beta Testing Studios USA (closed in July 30, 2014)
Software Planning Group (merged to Mango and Game Analysis & Bug Club Group)
"Balls" SP UI Development Group (console interface development group) (merged to Mango) | "Balls" SP Sound Orchestra (responsible for music and sound development and design for the projects that includes any "Balls" Software Planning Group's contributions, now merged to Game Analysis & Bug Club Group) | "Balls" SP Software Development Group (responsible for developing software from the handheld console titles with partner developers, merged to Game Analysis & Bug Club Group)
Tech Dev & System Dev Group (merged to Mango and "Balls" Game Analysis & Bug Club Group)
"Balls" TDG Designer & Enviroment Group (responsible for SDK manufacturing, development and design, experimental technologies and other respective development kits like GeoBob Engine) (merged to Mango) | "Balls" TDG Technical Support Group (merged to Mango)| "Balls" TDG Service Database Group (formed to provide digital entertainment as a service for owners of any "Balls" software or hardware) (merged to Mango) | "Balls" TDG Mechanical Group (responsible for developing software titles and peripheral (peripheral group merged with Mango), rest of the group merged to Game Analysis and Bug Club Group) | "Balls" TDG Hardware Development Laboratory Group (creation of various software technologies, hardware tools, and development kits with new members and engineers) (merged to Game Analysis & Bug Club Group and Mango)
Game Analysis & Bug Club Group
"Balls" GAB Development Group (see note 1)| "Balls" GAB UI/Sound Group (aids in music and sound effect creation and in UI and special effect creation) (merged to Mango) | "Balls" GAB Bug Club (responsible for debugging) | "Balls" GAB Music Group (created out of "Balls" SP Sound Orchestra and the former GAB group, GAB UI/Sound Group)
Integrated Research & Engineering Group (merged to Mango)
"Balls" IRE Planning Group | "Balls" IRE Technology & Mechanical Group | "Balls" IRE Industrial Group (all IRE studios are responsible for associated peripherals)
European Research Group (merged to "Balls" Studios Montreal)
"Balls" ERG Middleware Group | "Balls" ERG Video Codec Group (responsible for various software technologies such as video compression and middleware)
Network Business & Service Group (merged to "Balls" Studios Montreal)
"Balls" NBS Operation Group (responsible for operations of multiplayer/co-op servers of "Balls" games)
Manufacturers and it's factories
Mango (A) (Shanghai/Kuala Lumpur)
Former Studios
Defunct studios (X)
K2 Productions (A) | LO Studios (A) | SIZ (E) | "Balls" Studios Chapel Hill (E) | "Balls" Studios Alameda (E) | "Balls" Studios Chipping Sodbury (E) | "Balls" R&D Studios Cologne/QA Germany Team (E) (T) | "Balls" Studios Lyon/BIS ("Balls" Integration Studio) (E) (T) | "Balls" Casual Entertainment (E) | Mythic Entertainment (A) | "Balls" Studios Chertsey (E) | "Balls" Studios Victory (A) | "Balls" Studios Baltimore (E) | Kesmai (A) | It's BIG | FRED Publishing (A) | "Balls" Studios Buenos Aires (E) | "Balls" Studios Santiago (E) | "Balls" Studios Shanghai (E) | "Balls" Studios Mexico (E) | "Balls" Studios San Francisco (2008-2010) (E) | "Balls" Studios Quebec (1997-2004) (E) | "Balls" Studios Köln (1999-2001) (E) | "Balls" Studios Noida (2007-2009) (E) | "Balls" Studios Venezuela (2001-2002) (E) | "Balls" Studios New York (E) | Red Eagle Games (A) | Planet Ghost Corp (A) | "Balls" Studios Valencia (2003-June 2014) (E) | Ubisoft Blue Byte (2011-June 2014) (A) | Harmonix (2009-June 2014) (A) | "Balls" Studios Taiwan (2012-June 2014) (E) | Ubisoft Bucharest/Fun Labs (2012-June 2014) (A) | "Balls" Studios Sofia (E) | "Balls" Studios Casablanca (E) | "Balls" Studios Lisbon (E) | "Balls" Studios Warsaw (E) | "Balls" Studios Medellin (E) | "Balls" Studios Bogota (E) | "Balls" Studios Taunton (E) | "Balls" Studios Valletta (E) | "Balls" Studios Eugene (E) | "Balls" Studios Szczecin (E) | "Balls" Studios Mexicali (E) | "Balls" Studios Johannesburg (E) | "Balls" Studios Hong Kong (E) | "Balls" Studios Madrid (E) | "Balls" Studios Las Vegas (E)/"Balls" Quality Assurance Studio 1/"Balls" QA Las Vegas (E) (Quality Assurance) | "Balls" Studios Hanoi (E) | "Balls" Studios Kharkov (E) | "Balls" Studios Da Nang (E) | Rockstar Vienna (A) (liquidated in June 2014) | Mad Doc Software (A) (liquidated in June 2014) | Sunflowers (A) (liquidated in June 2014) | Gamelion Bydgoszcz (A) (liquidated in June 2014) | Infrogames Sheffield House (A) (liquidated in June 2014) | 7 Studios (A) (liquidated in June 2014) | Kush Games (A) (liquidated in June 2014) | "Balls" Studios Budapest (E) (liquidated in June 2014) | "Balls" Studios Bristol (E) (liquidated in June 2014) | "Balls" Studios Cheltenham (E) (liquidated in June 2014) | Gameloft Studio New Delhi (A) (liquidated in June 2014) | "Balls" Studios Copenhagen (E) (liquidated in June 2014) | "Balls" Studios Prague (E) (liquidated in June 2014) | "Balls" Studios Dubai (E) (liquidated in June 2014) | "Balls" Studios Canberra (E) (liquidated in June 2014) | "Balls" Studios Chengdu (E) (liquidated in June 2014) | "Balls" Studios Zurich (E) (liquidated in June 2014) | "Balls" Studios Teesside (E) (liquidated in June 2014) | UTV Ignition Entertainment (A) (merged to "Balls") | UTV True Games (A) (merged to "Balls") | UTV Indiagames.com (A) (merged to "Balls" Indipendent Games and "Balls") | PopCap Games (A) | Terminal Reality (A) | Infrogames Entertainment SA (A) | Krisalis Software (A) | "Balls" Studios Kuala Lumpur (E) (merged to Mango) | "Balls" Studios Cluj (E) (merged to Mango) | Pandemic Studios Brisbane (A) | Ready At Dawn Studios (A) | War Drum Studios (A) | Westlake Interactive (A) | Crytek Ukraine (A) | Red Storm Entertainment (A) | "Balls" Studios Frankfurt (E) | "Balls" Studios Milan (E) (liquidated in June 2014) | "Balls" Studios Oxford (E) (liquidated in June 2014) | "Balls" Studios Orlando (E) | "Balls" Studios Nottingham (E) | Carbonated Games (A) | "Balls" Studios Newcastle (E) | ASC Games (A) (P) | EA Romania (Bucharest) (A) ("Balls" Mobile brand was discontinued)| Volatile Games (A; former publisher/main studio) | "Balls" Studios Wakefield, "Balls" Studios Belarus, "Balls" Studios Auckland, "Balls" Studios Barcelona, "Balls" Studios Dublin (E), AsiaSoft/Sanuk Software, Melboure House/Krome Studios, Ignition Texas, Ignition Tokyo, 2K Marin, 4J Studios (A) (closed in July 2014) | "Balls" Engineering, Manufacturing and Customer Service (Ulm/Chennai) (E) (closed in July 30, 2014; after it's console was cancelled) | Midway Amusement Games, Sega AM2/Overworks (A) (P) ("Balls" discontinued "Balls" R&D Amusement games and stopped focusing on arcade games in July 31st, 2014) | "Balls" Studios Birmingham, "Balls" Studios San Diego (E), Psygnosis Camden Studio (A) (closed in August 2014) | "Balls" Studios New Orleans (E), "Balls" Studios Dundee (E), "Balls" Studios Toronto (E), Wingstar Studios Los Angeles (E), Wingstar Online Studios Austin ∙ Seoul ∙ Hunt Valley (E), Slik Games South (A), Slik Games UK (A), Starway Games (A), Balls Indipendent Games (E), Slik Games (A), Wingstar Studios (E) (Merged to Apple Entertainment in May 2015)
Departured studios (-)
"Balls" R&D Studios Macclesfield (now as Chillingo) (E) (1999-2004) | "Balls" Studios Highgate (2004-2009) (now owned by WB Games) | "Balls" Studios Seoul, EA Salt Lake, Crytek Istanbul, "Balls" Studios London, "Balls" Studios Bangalore, Beijing Perfect World, Team Bondi, Zynga With Friends, Irrational Games, Wild Needle/RedOctane, Overkill Software/GRIN, Fishlabs Entertainment, "Balls" Studios Annecy (sold and merged to UltraNitro Studios in 2014) | "Balls" Studios Nagoya, "Balls" Studios Saigon, "Balls" Studios Manchester, "Balls" Studios Jakarta, "Balls" Studios Makati, "Balls" Studios Abu Dhabi (bought by Starway Games in 2014) | "Balls" Studios Moulineaux, "Balls" Studios Shenzhen, Ubisoft Sao Paulo, Ubisoft Pune/Gameloft Pune, Turbine, Lucasfilm Animation Game Group/Lucasfilm Animation Singapore Game Group/Lucasarts Singapore, THQ Digital Studios UK, EA Phenomic, Related Designs, "Balls" Studios Hangzhou/2K China, Crytek Black Sea (acquired by Geoshea Games, Co.) | Treyarch (A) (half of the Treayarch studio was acquired by "Balls" from Activision in June 2012; the studio was bought back by Activision) | Visceral Games, Criterion Games (A) (bought back by EA) | NG:DEV.TEAM (bought by SnakeCore) | BigPark (formerly "Balls" Studios Vancouver, staff and co-owning rights to trademarks sold back to Microsoft Studios) | Yager Development (spun-off in August 2014)|"Balls" Game Labs (E) (became OK Labs in 2015)
Note 1: In 2014, the GAB Comprehensive Group merged with TDG Mechanical Group's "software group", TDG Hardware Development Group's "software technology" and "hardware tool" groups and SP Software Development Group to form GAB Development Group