 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 2000; 26 years ago (2000) inChapel Hill, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Defunct | January 31, 2016; 10 years ago (2016-01-31) |
| Headquarters | Morrisville, North Carolina, U.S. |
Key people | Eric Peterson, Founder/President andCEO Wayne Harvey, Founder/VP/CTO Dave Ellis, Founder/Senior Game Designer, Marc Racine Founder/Production Director, Senior Game Designer Brett Freese |
| Products | Vicious Engine |
| Parent | D3 Publisher (2007–2014) Little Orbit (2014–2016) |
| Divisions | Monkey Bar Games |
| Website | viciouscycleinc |
Vicious Cycle Software was an Americanvideo game development company based inMorrisville, North Carolina.
Vicious Cycle was founded in 2000 by Eric Peterson, Dave Ellis, Marc Racine, and Wayne Harvey after layoffs at the localMicroProse development studio (then aHasbro Interactive studio) forced several game developers into finding other work. Racine resigned as Vice President and Director of Production in the Spring of 2005 to pursue other ventures. Ellis left the company in the Summer of 2000 but returned in 2005 to take a position as agame designer. Vicious Cycle has released titles for thePlayStation 2,Xbox,GameCube,Xbox 360,PlayStation 3,Wii, andPlayStation Portable systems as well as theMicrosoft Windows platform.
In 2005, Vicious Cycle announced the opening of theirMonkey Bar Games division. Monkey Bar Games was focused on providing mass-market games to gamers of all ages. Monkey Bar Games released video games incorporating licensed characters fromBen 10,Dora the Explorer, andCurious George. A game was also released in late 2006 to coincide with the release of theFlushed Away animated feature film.
On June 20, 2007, Vicious Cycle was acquired byD3 Publisher, making Vicious Cycle Software a subsidiary of D3Publisher of America and a second‐tier subsidiary of D3 Inc.[1] Vicious Cycle releasedEat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on February 26, 2009. On October 1, 2009, they announcedMatt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond forXbox LIVE Arcade and thePlayStation Store for winter 2009.[2]
On September 4, 2014, Vicious Cycle was acquired byLittle Orbit.[3][4] As the final two games (Adventure Time: Finn & Jake Investigations andKung Fu Panda: Showdown of Legendary Legends) neared completion, several rounds of layoffs reduced the studio to a skeleton crew. Vicious Cycle closed its doors permanently on January 31, 2016.
In 2005, Vicious Cycle announced the release of their Vicious Enginegame engine. The Vicious Engine was a complete game developmentmiddleware solution for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation Portable, GameCube, Wii and Microsoft Windows. It was one of the first game engines to offer full support for the PSP and Wii platforms.[citation needed]
The second version of the Vicious Engine, Ve2, was released on March 25, 2009, at the Game Developers Conference. It specifically featured improvements for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.[5][6]
