Elixir Studios

Elixir Studios was a British video game developer. The company was founded in 1998 by Demis Hassabis, formerly a prominent figure at Lionhead Studios. At its height, it employed around sixty people, and was based in London. It aimed to be an independent developer, creating its own intellectual properties rather than licensing established ones. The company's first game, Republic: The Revolution, was released in 2003, and a second game, Evil Genius, was released in 2004.^[1]

Elixir Studios

Company type	Video game developer
Industry	Video games
Founded	1998
Defunct	2005
Fate	Closed
Headquarters	London, England, United Kingdom
Key people	Demis Hassabis David Silver
Products	Republic: The Revolution Evil Genius

In 2005, however, the company announced that it would be closing. This followed the cancellation of development on a major project due to its "perceived high-risk", which had been underway for two years. The company, citing "the current risk averse publishing climate", concluded that its goal of exploring new territory was not possible. In a press release, Hassabis said: "It seems that today's games industry no longer has room for small independent developers wanting to work on innovative and original ideas. ... [T]his was the sole purpose of setting up Elixir and something we could never compromise on." Elixir stated that it had sufficient resources to pay redundancy packages to its staff and ensure that the company was wound down in an orderly manner.^[2][3][4][5]

Rebellion Developments bought Elixir's intellectual property in March 2006, including Evil Genius.^[6][7][8]

Games

Release Date	Titles	Genre	Platform(s)
2003	Republic: The Revolution	Strategy	Windows, Mac OS X
2004	Evil Genius	Strategy	Windows
Canceled	Blue Vault[9]	Real-time strategy	Windows
	Republic Dawn: The Chronicles of the Seven	Persistent Online Strategy	Windows
	Republic: The Revolution 2	Strategy	Xbox
	Evil Genius 2[10]	Strategy	Windows

References

1. "Games Developed by Elixir Studios". Strategy Informer. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
2. Fahey, Rob (28 April 2005). "Elixir Studios to close following cancellation of key project". Game Industry. Retrieved 25 September 2008.
3. Jenkins, David; Simon Carless (28 April 2005). "Elixir Studios To Close Doors". GamaSutra. Retrieved 25 September 2008.
4. Ryuken (18 April 2005). "Elixir Studios is no more". Fragland. Retrieved 25 September 2008.
5. Goldstein, Maarten (28 April 2005). "Elixir Studios Closes". ShackNews. Retrieved 25 September 2008.
6. Alex (2 March 2006). "Rebellion – Bought EG Rights!". Archived from the original on 5 April 2016. Retrieved 25 September 2008.
7. Sefton, Jamie (14 July 2006). "Demis Hassabis, part two". Computer and Video Games. Retrieved 25 September 2008.
8. Remo, Chris (14 July 2009). "Rebellion Acquires Vivendi Licenses, Considers New Franchise Titles". GamaSutra. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
9. PC Zone Staff (5 April 2004). "Preview: Blue Vault". Computer and Video Games. Retrieved 25 September 2008.
10. Van Autrijve, Rainier (14 December 2004). "Evil Genius 2 in the Works". GameSpy. Retrieved 25 September 2008.