Q-Games, Limited

Company type	Private
Industry	Video games
Founded	9 August 2001; 24 years ago (2001-08-09)[1]
Founder	Dylan Cuthbert
Headquarters	Nakagyō-ku,Kyoto, Japan
Key people	Dylan Cuthbert (President/Managing Director) Kenkichi Shimooka (Vice-President/Director)[1]
Products	PixelJunk series The Tomorrow Children
Owner	Dylan Cuthbert
Website	https://www.q-games.com/en/

Q-Games, Limited is avideo game developer based inNakagyō-ku,Kyoto,Japan.^[2] It was founded byArgonaut Games alumnus Dylan Cuthbert and was closely affiliated withNintendo andSony Interactive Entertainment.^[1]

Q-Games was founded by Dylan Cuthbert,^[3] of British origin,^[4] who at Argonaut Software previously helped createStarglider andStarglider 2, and gave programming assistance toX and the firstStar Fox forNintendo. He also developedStar Fox 2 to completion before heading off to work atSony to makeBlasto on thePlayStation. After this, Cuthbert moved back to Japan to work atJapan Studio, where, in early 1999, he developed the Duck in a Bath technical demo that showcased thePlayStation 2's power to early developers and publishers.^[5] Following that, he developedPipo Saru 2001 and then left Sony to start Q-Games Ltd. in Kyoto in August 2001.

The studio's first few years were spent accumulating staff and developing behind-doors technology projects for a number of clients includingSony andMicrosoft. At E3 2004, they showed two graphic technology demos^[6][7] for thePlayStation Portable and then internally began development on two games, one for theGame Boy Advance and one for theNintendo DS. These titles were announced asDigidrive (part of thebit Generations series of puzzle games for the Game Boy Advance) andStar Fox Command respectively. Both were later released.

Following these projects, Q-Games began to collaborate withSony Computer Entertainment, becoming a second-party studio partner, by developing thePixelJunk series of downloadable games for thePlayStation 3. They are available for download and purchase on the PlayStation Network Store worldwide. PixelJunk games are presented in 1080p full HD. PixelJunk made its worldwide debut on 11 July 2007 at E3 2007, held in Santa Monica, CA. At TGS 2009, Q-Games confirmed that it is extremely unlikely these games will ever appear on the Xbox 360.^[8]

Throughout its existence, Q-Games has continued to partner with multipleplatform holders directly including Nintendo, Sony, and Google.

Q-Games have also worked withNintendo again, releasing several games for theNintendo DSi'sDSiWare digital distribution service from 2009 to 2010. The studio would co-developStar Fox 64 3D for theNintendo 3DS withNintendo EAD in releasing in 2011.^[9]

AtGamescom 2014, Q-Games announcedThe Tomorrow Children, an online adventure game that featured asynchronous multiplayer. The title was co-developed byJapan Studio and published bySony Interactive Entertainment.^[10] The game launched in 2016 as afree to play title for the PlayStation 4, but was shut down by Sony after a year of operation.^[11]

Q-Games has also developed a number of titles exclusive forApple Arcade includinga new Frogger.^[12]

In 2021, it was announced thatPixelJunk Raiders would be launching on Google Stadia. The title made use of the State Share feature to allow players to jump into other players game via a screenshot or video capture.^[13]

Q-Games negotiated with Sony to secure the rights toThe Tomorrow Children in November 2021, and stated their intent to revive the game in the future.^[11] It was re-released by Q-Games in September 2022 asThe Tomorrow Children: Phoenix Edition.^[14]

As well as games development, Q-Games developed technology directly with Sony Japan for thePlayStation 3. ThePS3's XMB (Xross Media Bar)interface, background and music visualizer were developed by Q-Games and they are credited with 3D Graphics Technology in theAbout PS3 section of the PS3's OS.^[20]

On September 24, 2009, Q-Games released their owndeveloper space for their series,PixelJunk in the PlayStation 3's online community-based service,PlayStation Home to the Japanese version and on October 9, 2009, to the North American version. The "PixelJunk Museum" (Japan), or "PixelJunk Exhibition" (North America), features the gamesPixelJunk Eden,PixelJunk Monsters, andPixelJunk Racers. ForPixelJunk Eden there are glass wall art displays, forPixelJunk Monsters, there are displays of familiar characters from the game, and forPixelJunk Racers, there are displays of two different race cars. There is also a virtual shop in the space sellingPixelJunk virtual items. In Japan's version from September 24, 2009, to October 9, 2009, near the shop, there was a panel that took users to a virtual version of Q-Games TGS 2009 Booth. Called the "Q-Games virtual public TGS Booth", it was a virtual recreation of the Q-Games TGS 2009 Booth that had a free T-shirt and a video screen.^[21] On December 17, 2009, they released another exhibition room to the "PixelJunk Exhibition" space. This room is to displayPixelJunk Shooter and is called the "PixelJunk Shooter Mother Ship Hangar."

• Chris Kohler's bookPower-Up: How Japanese Video Games Gave the World an Extra Life - Chapter 6.
• An Interview on Gamasutra.com with Q-Games(in English)
• Dylan Cuthbert's profile on N-Sider.comArchived 2006-11-22 at theWayback Machine(in English)
• Dylan Cuthbert video interview on the 1-UP Show(in English)

• Q-Games Official website

• Companies based in Kyoto
• Japanese companies established in 2001
• Video game companies established in 2001
• Video game companies of Japan
• Video game development companies

• Webarchive template wayback links
• CS1 maint: archived copy as title
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata