Playtonic Games


Playtonic Limited is a British video game developer founded in 2014. It consists in large part of former members of Rare.

History

Playtonic Games was founded in August 2014 by Steve Hurst, Steve Mayles, Gavin Price, Jens Restemeier, Mark Stevenson, and Chris Sutherland, all of whom previously worked at Rare. Of the founders, Price assumed the role of studio head. They were joined by Grant Kirkhope and Steven Hurst. The first game the company worked on was codenamed "Project Ukulele", which was described as a spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie. The team launched a Kickstarter campaign for the project, and it managed to reach the stretch goal of US$1 million within 24 hours. In part due to the campaign's success, the team's attention was often diverted to other aspects such as making merchandise items instead of focusing on game's development, and some choices related to game development were forced as well due to them being promised in the campaign.
Project Ukulele was unveiled as the 3D platformer Yooka-Laylee, which was released in 2017 to mixed critical reviews. Playtonic followed up on Yooka-Laylee with Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair, their second game, a 2.5D spinoff. While bearing similarities with the Donkey Kong Country series, the team opted not to use the moniker "spiritual successor" to market the game, unlike with Yooka-Laylee. Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair was released in 2019 to a more positive reception than Yooka-Laylee.
Playtonic Games announced the rebranding of their company name to "Playtonic" and the launch of a publishing division, Playtonic Friends, in February 2021, with three titles under development from partner studios Awe Interactive, Fabraz, and Okidokico. On 26 March 2021, Playtonic Friends' revealed their first game, Demon Turf, developed by Fabraz. On 29 April 2021, Playtonic Friends's announced their next game, BPM: Bullets Per Minute, would be released in 2021 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. On 19 May 2021, Playtonic announced A Little Golf Journey, to be released on PCs and Nintendo Switch and developed by Okidokico.
Tencent acquired a minority stake in Playtonic in November 2021.

Games developed

Games published

The games below were published under the name Playtonic Friends.
YearGamePlatformsDeveloper
2021Demon TurfNintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/SFabraz
2021BPM: Bullets Per MinuteNintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox OneAwe Interactive
2021A Little Golf JourneyNintendo Switch, WindowsOkidokico
2022Lil Gator GameNintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/SMegawobble
2022Blossom Tales II: The Minotaur PrinceNintendo Switch, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/SCastle Pixel
2022Demon Turf: Neon SplashNintendo Switch, WindowsFabraz
2024CorpoNation: The Sorting ProcessNintendo Switch, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/SCanteen
2024ElsieNintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, WindowsKnight Shift Games
2024Victory Heat RallyAndroid, iOS, Nintendo Switch, WindowsSkydevilpalm
2025Dunk DunkNintendo Switch, WindowsBadgerhammer
2025Cattle CountryNintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox Series X/SCastle Pixel