The Game Band
| A red shape of a guitar pick with a Spade suit shape in the middle in white. Underneath is The Game Band in an all-caps sans serif font. | |
| Private | |
| ISIN | 🆔 |
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded 📆 | 2015 |
| Founders 👔 |
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| Headquarters 🏙️ | , , U.S. |
Area served 🗺️ | |
| Members | |
Number of employees | <50 |
| 🌐 Website | thegameband |
| 📇 Address | |
| 📞 telephone | |
The Game Band is an independent video game development studio best known for Apple Arcade launch title Where Cards Fall and their hit browser game Blaseball. After working as a game designer on Skylanders and What Remains of Edith Finch, founder Sam Rosenthal established the studio in 2015 to develop original titles.
Their first title, Where Cards Fall, released in 2019 as an exclusive title on the Apple Arcade subscription service and won The Apple Design Award[1]. It is slated for release on PC and Nintendo Switch in 2021. The game's early development predated the studio, as it was a project undertaken by Rosenthal while studying game design at the University of Southern California. The game is loosely inspired by the Radiohead single "House of Cards"[2]. The design, from the ground up as a mobile game, is intended to be approachable to anyone, as Rosenthal cited a frustration with the closed-off nature of his chosen medium and hoping to get the game's message about intentionally changing one's life for the better to the widest audience possible.
Their second game, Blaseball, is a browser-based massively multiplayer sports simulator with elements of fantasy baseball and absurdist horror. It first launched in July 2020 and has since gained a significant audience[3] and several award nominations including a Nebula Award Nomination in Game Writing[4], a Hugo Award Nomination in Best Video Game[5], a GIGA Nomination for Community Management[6], and an IGF Nuovo Award Nomination (winner)[7]. The studio also received US$3,000,000 in funding to develop the game further, with a focus on an upcoming mobile app.[8]
The Game Band was included on a list of Gamasutra's Top 10 Game Developers of 2020[9]. Additionally, Fast Company named founder Sam Rosenthal, game designer Joel Clark, and narrative designer Stephen Bell as three of "The Most Creative People in Business (2021)."[10]
References
- ↑ "Behind the Design: Where Cards Fall". Apple Developer. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
- ↑ "How Radiohead helped make 'Where Cards Fall' one of Apple Arcade's must-play games". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
- ↑ "Fans Are Rallying Around Blaseball, America's Favorite Splort". WIRED Magazine. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
- ↑ "SFWA Announces the 56th Annual Nebula Award® Finalists". The Nebula Awards. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
- ↑ "2021 Hugo Awards". The Hugo Awards. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
- ↑ "Global Industry Game Awards". The International Game Developers Association. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
- ↑ "Finalists and Winners". Independent Games Festival. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
- ↑ "Fantasy fantasy sport Blaseball developers score $3M seed funding to go mobile". TechCrunch. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
- ↑ "Gamasutra's Best of 2020: The top 10 game developers of the year". GameDeveloper. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
- ↑ "The Most Creative People in Business 2021". FastCompany. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
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