Description

Croteam is an independent game development company located in Zagreb, Croatia and developing games and 3D engine technologies for PC, Mac, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android, as well as various VR platforms.

History

Early history

Croteam was initially started as a "garage game development" in 1992. From there, it has been continually involved in development of video games for PC, Xbox, Xbox 360/XBLA and 3D engine technologies. Between 1993 and 1995, Croteam developed three games for different game platforms: Football Glory (PC, Amiga), 5-A-Side Soccer (Amiga), and Save The Earth (Amiga 4000 - TV game for kids). With the release of Football Glory, Croteam has made a strong presence in the European market (mainly UK and Germany) and Croteam products were received well.

The Serious Sam Era

In period 2001-2002, Croteam developed four products. Serious Sam: The First Encounter (PC FPS, March 2001), Serious Sam: The Second Encounter (PC FPS, February 2002), Serious Sam (Xbox FPS, November 2002), and Serious Engine (PC/Xbox – 3D Game Engine powering all three Serious Sam games). Serious Sam games were also released on other platforms such as Palm OS, GameCube and Playstation 2, and they were developed by 3rd party developers. While developing games, Croteam is also having success in licensing engine technology to other developers and publishers. So far, Serious Engine has been used by more than 10 different game developers, publishers and hardware manufacturers with 3 games already released and over 10 games currently in development.

Worldwide Recognition

Since Serious Sam: The First Encounter worldwide release in March 2001, Croteam is recognized for its frantic action game design, crazy humor and powerful Serious Engine technology. In 2005 Croteam finished the development of the next chapter in the Serious Sam saga. Featuring a new, mind-blowing Serious Engine 2 technology, Serious Sam 2 gave new meaning to frantic action, wide open spaces, crazy humor and huge bosses. Serious Sam 2 was released world-wide in October 2005 for PC and Xbox platforms. Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter, powered by internally developed Serious Engine 3, was released world-wide in November 2009 for PC and in January 2010 for XBLA. Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter was released world-wide in April 2010 for PC and in September 2010 for XBLA. Finally, Serious Sam 3: BFE was released world-wide in November 2011 for PC, then Mac and Linux followed by mid 2012. XBLA version was released in September 2012 and PSN arrived in May 2014.

A Switch to Something a little different

In December 2014 Croteam released The Talos Principle (PC/Mac/Linux), philosophical first-person puzzler which received numerous awards and nominations for game of the year and high praises both from critics as well as gamers, resulting in Croteam’s highest rated game since 2001.

Modern Times Call for Modern Measures

After successfully dipping into virtual reality, by releasing Serious Sam VR: The First Encounted, Serious Sam VR: The Second Encounter, Serious Sam VR: BFE and our first VR exclusive Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope on Steam VR and Oculus Rift in 2017., we are shifting our focus to Serious Sam 4 and The Talos Principle 2.

Projects


Videos

How Serious Sam's Demo Saved the Game From Extinction | War Stories | Ars Technica YouTube

Behind the Schemes: Croteam YouTube

Reboot Game Developer Studio Sessions - Croteam YouTube

This is Real - Croteam YouTube

Serious Sam VR: The First Encounter - Office Deathmatch! YouTube


Selected Articles

  • "War Stories: Serious Sam almost didn’t happen—until crates saved the day"
    - Ars Staff, Ars Technica
  • "Inside Croteam, The Game Studio Going All-In on Virtual Reality"
    - ASUS, Republic of Gamers

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