Gray Matter Studios

Not to be confused with Gray Matter (company).

Gray Matter Interactive Studios, Inc. (Gray Matter Studios; formerly Xatrix Entertainment, Inc.) was an American video game developer based in Los Angeles.

Gray Matter Interactive Studios, Inc.

Formerly	Xatrix Entertainment, Inc. (1993–1999)
Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Video games
Founded	March 1993; 31 years ago (1993-03)
Founders	Drew Markham Barry Dempsey
Defunct	2005 (2005)
Fate	Merged into Treyarch
Headquarters	Los Angeles , US
Key people	Drew Markham (creative director)
Number of employees	18–20 (2001)
Parent	Activision (2002–2005)

History

Drew Markham and his business partner Barry Dempsey founded Xatrix Entertainment in March 1993. The studio's first release was Cyberia in 1994.^[1] Among its later projects was Quake II Mission Pack: The Reckoning, for which it worked with publisher Activision.^[2] Around 1999, some of the original business partners sought to exit the company. To handle this efficiently, Xatrix was transferred to a new corporation under Markham as creative director.^[3] With the assistance of Activision, Gray Matter Studios was established on June 17, 1999, and took over most of the former employees.^[4][5] Activision initially owned 40% of the studio.^[6] It bought the remaining 60% in January 2002, after the successful release of Return to Castle Wolfenstein.^[2][7] The publisher paid 133,690 shares of common stock, at the time worth around US$3.2 million.^[7] Post-acquisition, the studio was put to work on the Call of Duty: United Offensive expansion.^[8] It also worked on Trinity: The Shatter Effect, which was announced and then canceled in late 2003.^[9][10] In 2005, during the development of Call of Duty 2: Big Red One, Gray Matter Studios was merged into Activision's Treyarch studio. As part of Treyarch, the former Gray Matter Studios team worked on Call of Duty 3.^[8][11]

Games developed

As Xatrix Entertainment

Year	Title
1994	Cyberia
1995	Cyberia 2: Resurrection
1997	Redneck Rampage
1998	Redneck Rampage Rides Again
	Redneck Deer Huntin'
	Quake II Mission Pack: The Reckoning
1999	Kingpin: Life of Crime

As Gray Matter Studios

Year	Title
2001	Return to Castle Wolfenstein
2004	Call of Duty: United Offensive

Canceled

• Trinity: The Shatter Effect

References

1. "Corporate Profile". Xatrix Entertainment. Archived from the original on October 13, 1999.
2. "Activision Buys Gray Matter". IGN. January 15, 2002. Archived from the original on September 16, 2022. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
3. Presley, Paul (January 2001). "The World According to... Drew Markham". PC Zone. No. 98. Dennis Publishing. p. 158. Retrieved September 16, 2022 – via Internet Archive.
4. "Story". Gray Matter Studios. Archived from the original on February 5, 2002.
5. "News". Gray Matter Studios. Archived from the original on November 11, 2001.
6. "Return to Castle Wolfenstein". PC Player (in German). Future Verlag. April 2000. p. 18. Retrieved September 16, 2022 – via Internet Archive.
7. "Activision Acquires Rest Of Gray Matter Interactive". The Wall Street Journal. January 14, 2022. Archived from the original on September 16, 2022. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
8. Hall, Charlie (May 8, 2018). "Meet the studio behind Call of Duty: Black Ops and Zombies mode". Polygon. Archived from the original on September 16, 2022. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
9. Bramwell, Tom (November 7, 2003). "Activision cans Trinity and other titles". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on November 8, 2023. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
10. Bramwell, Tom (January 23, 2004). "Gray Matter still pulsing". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on September 16, 2022. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
11. Peel, Jeremy (February 15, 2021). "How Treyarch escaped Infinity Ward's shadow". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on September 16, 2022. Retrieved September 16, 2022.