Warhorse Studios
Warhorse Studios s.r.o. is a Czech video game developer headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic. It is a subsidiary of PLAION, an Embracer Group operative group.
Background
Warhorse Studios s.r.o. was founded by Daniel Vávra, the design director of Mafia and a writer and game designer for 2K Czech, and Martin Klíma, a developer who worked on producer for Bohemia Interactive.[1][2] Animator Zbynek Travnivky and developer Viktor Bocan were some of Warhorse's first hires.[2]
The studio's first project was the role-playing video game Kingdom Come: Deliverance. Work began as early as 2009, starting with a pitch by Vávra, who had recently left 2K Czech. The project stagnated due to a lack of hype and, with dwindling resources, little progress was made.[3] The studio launched a crowdfunding campaign via Kickstarter with the goal of generating £300,000, ten percent of the US$5,000,000 budget, to prove to investors that there was an audience and desire for the game.[4]. On 29 September 2016, it was announced that the studio had agreed with Deep Silver to handle the publishing of the console versions and the retail PC version of the game.[5]
On 13 February 2019, Koch Media (rebranded PLAION in 2022) agreed to acquire Warhorse Studios, which had been co-published by Deep Silver exactly one year prior. Koch Media paid €42.8 million, equal to Warhorse's 2018 earnings, to seize ownership over the studio and its intellectual property.[6]
The studio's second project is Kingdom Come: Deliverance II. Work began in July 2019, following the release of its predecessor and its downloadable content.[7] The studio grew from 131 people in 2019[8] to ~250 employees by the latest in Spring 2024.[9]
Key people
- Martin Frývaldský (chief executive officer)
- Daniel Vávra (creative director)
- Martin Klíma (executive producer)
- Tobias Stolz-Zwilling (global PR manager)[10]
Gallery
References
- ↑ Czech Veterans Form New Studio, Warhorse
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2K Czech, Bohemia Interactive vets form Warhorse Studios
- ↑ The Art of Waiting | Kingdom Come RPG
- ↑ [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1294225970/kingdom-come-deliverance Kingdom Come: Deliverance Kickstarter page
- ↑ Medieval RPG "Kingdom Come" Signs Publishing Deal With Dead Island Studio
- ↑ Koch Media kauft „Kingdom Come“-Studio Warhorse Studios
- ↑ Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Official Game Reveal
- ↑ THQ Nordic Annual Report 2018/2019
- ↑ Jetzt ist es Gewissheit: Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 angekündigt - Alle Infos zusammengefasst
- ↑ Tobias Stolz-Zwilling's LinkedIn page