Epic acquires Undertow developer

By Games Industry.biz Published 21 May, 2008

Chair pulled up to Unreal table.

Epic Games has announced the acquisition of developer Chair Entertainment, GamesIndustry.biz reports.

Chair most recently created the XBLA game Undertow and is currently working on projects based upon Orson Scott Card's Empire and Ender's Game books.

"Chair's stylised approach to creating games is further enhanced by their ability to stretch our technology in new directions that not only help in creating amazing gaming experiences but also demonstrate the power and versatility of the Unreal Engine," said Epic VP Mark Rein.

"We are thrilled to bring the Chair team into the Epic family, and look forward to working with them to create original new games that continue to innovate and inspire."

Chair Entertainment, which was founded in 2005, will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Epic Games. In 2007, the company announced that it would be using the Unreal Engine exclusively for all of its upcoming projects.

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Comments (11) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Avaloner #1 4 years ago

    Meanwhile I really did not enjoy Undertow

  • muscleblade #2 4 years ago

    Undertow was very good. Coop on the highest difficulty was very entertaining imo.

    @Avaloner you havent really played it enough to have an objective opinion. You barely touched it.
    Edited by 1 at 21/05/08 @ 08:08

  • Eldritch #3 4 years ago

    Didn't like Undertow either. Tried playing it twice and got bored after a few minutes. I still don't quite understand why you'd need the Unreal engine for such a game.

  • LeD #4 4 years ago

    Also-rans that produced some of the biggest titles of last-gen and current-gen.

  • DFawkes #5 4 years ago

    I thought Undertow was okay, but if I was a big company like Epic it wasn't good enough to make me think "we need that dev!". I agree with muscleblade that coop was brilliant though.

  • penhalion #6 4 years ago

    A definite puzzler this one. Undertow wasn't a good game. It looked good but, the difficulty was way unbalanced and it simply wasn't much fun to play. I guess it boils down to them using unreal engine.

  • Yaz #7 4 years ago

    My oh my Aspic, aren't you a bitter gamer. ;)

    BTW, whilst you may not like Epic's games, it's not fair to label those that do as sheep and simpletons. Many of those same gamers play and enjoy the same games as yourself. So how about showing a little respect for other gamers? :)

  • miiiguel #8 4 years ago

    Aspic, you're going to need more than fingers crossed to see Epic "bust", I think they could live on licensing their engine alone. Nowdays they seem to make games just for the fun.
    Maybe bomb their offices or something if you hate them that much. My guess is what makes you constipated is the sucess Gears had..., shit, I really have to try that game some day...
    Edited by 1 at 21/05/08 @ 10:23

  • Xerx3s #9 4 years ago

    "GOW - woohoo. Tired deriviative gameplay saved by pretty graphics. One for sheep and simpletons. "

    Cry us a river when the rest of us are having tons of fun with gow2. Bitter tears.

  • BadBoyBonner #10 4 years ago

    Highly likely Chair have only been bought for Epic to try and demonstrate a little diversification and increase the price of purchasing them as a whole.

    While Undertow showed that the game could be made with the UE3, the real question was if it should have been made with the UE3?

    Unless they managed to negotiate an amazing licensing deal the answer is no doubt that it shouldn't have been made with it.

  • DUFFKING #11 4 years ago

    Oh look, someone else thinking that it makes them a better person simply because they didn't like a game that was universally acclaimed.

    For the record, CoD 4 is an unoriginal, by the numbers FPS game with a fucking huge layer of polish of the top and somehow nobody noticed. It's a great game but I don't see why it gets as much praise as it does. At least the Unreal Tournament games have variety, and some element of skill involved when you play them.
    Edited by 1 at 21/05/08 @ 13:30