Big Fish Games
American gaming company From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Big Fish Games is a casual game company based in Seattle, with a regional office in Oakland, California, owned by Aristocrat Leisure. It is a developer and distributor of casual games for computers and mobile devices.
 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 2002 |
| Founder | Paul Thelen  |
| Headquarters | Seattle, Washington, United States |
Number of employees | 350 (2020) |
| Parent | Aristocrat Leisure |
| Website | bigfishgames |
In 2016, the company was accused of knowingly deceiving customers into signing up for monthly purchases without informed consent.[1] It was also the subject of a class action lawsuit over its app Big Fish Casino, resulting in a settlement of $155 million after a federal appeals court ruled that it constituted illegal online gambling.[2][3]
The company was founded in 2002.[4] In 2009, it announced the opening of its European headquarters in Cork, Ireland.[5]
In July 2010, the company passed one billion game downloads from its online portal.[6]
In August 2013, the company announced the closing of its cloud-based games service, Vancouver studio and Cork offices.[7]
In 2014, the company was acquired by Churchill Downs Inc. in a deal valued at up to $885 million.[8][9]
In 2018, Churchill Downs sold Big Fish to Australian gambling machine manufacturer Aristocrat Leisure for $990 million.[10]
In September 2018, Big Fish cut 15% of its workforce,[11] and in September 2020, it cut nearly 50% of its workforce.[12]
Big Fish Games has a number of studios split between the Seattle office and Oakland office that develop games: Self Aware Games, Triton Studios, Epic Ventures and ARC Studios.
Games developed by the various Big Fish studios include:
- Drawn series: Dark Flight, The Painted Tower, Trail of Shadows
- Fairway Solitaire HD
- Hidden Expedition series
- Mystery Case Files series
- Faunasphere
The company entered browser gaming with its acquisition of the game website Ion Thunder in 2007; the service was re-branded as Atlantis following the acquisition.[citation needed] The service, which was later revamped as Big Sea Games in 2009, was shut down in 2010 as part of the company's shift from traditional online games to social games on Facebook and mobile apps.[13]
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