 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | January 2012; 13 years ago (2012-01) |
| Founder | Chris Southall |
| Headquarters | , England |
Key people | Neall Jones |
| Parent | Sega Europe (2019–present) |
| Website | hardlightstudio.com |
Hardlight is a British video game developer founded bySega and based inLeamington Spa, England. Revealed in January 2012, it is focused onmobile games forsmartphones and became a part ofSega Europe in 2019.
Founded by Sega employee Chris Southall, Hardlight initially began work onresearch and development forhandheld game consoles, but soon shifted to mobile games after being asked by Sega as part of an initiative to increase mobile game development outside of Japan. Hardlight developed several mobile games in theSonic the Hedgehog andCrazy Taxi video game series and its games received numerous downloads, withSonic Dash having been downloaded millions of times.
Hardlight was founded by Chris Southall, a formerCodemasters employee who also helped to foundSega Racing Studio and revealed by Sega in January 2012.[1] After working with Sega Racing Studio, Southall worked in Sega technical support areas along with a team,[2] and served as chief technology officer for Sega Europe.[1] According to Southall, Sega's desire for more development of mobile games led to Hardlight's foundation.[2]
The initial studio was inDorridge,Solihull, in theWest Midlands. Shortly after its formation, Sega announced that Hardlight was in development on aPlayStation Vita action-adventure game, to be released in late 2012.[3] Hardlight also performed some research and development work for theNintendo 3DS.[2] According to studio manager Sion Lenton, Hardlight employed 21 employees at this time, in addition to contracted staff, and had a goal of remaining small for the moment. By September 2012, Hardlight had completed aport ofViking: Battle for Asgard for PC.[1]
Sega would make the decision to focus more on mobile games in the west, having had success in Japan. Hardlight was asked to shift its focus to developing games foriOS andAndroid systems. Their first project was a remake ofSonic Jump,[2] which had originally been developed for theT-Mobile Sidekick and released in 2005.[4] Southall called development of the remake "an interesting learning process". Hardlight relocated its studio around that time toLeamington Spa, a town with a community of video game developers in the area. By the time ofSonic Jump's launch in October 2012, the studio was working on developing titles in theSonic the Hedgehog andCrazy Taxi series. Although initially faced with difficulty deciding which to develop,Sega Sammy Holdings president andchief operating officer (COO) Haruki Satomi saw a demo ofSonic Dash and liked it so much that he insisted it be developed.Sonic Dash was initially scheduled for a Christmas 2012 release, but would not be released until March 2013.[2]
The studio's next title wasCrazy Taxi: City Rush. The concept for developing a mobileCrazy Taxi game came from the originalSega AM3 producer, Kenji Kanno. Hardlight worked with Kanno on design aspects for the game.[5] Subsequently, Hardlight releasedSonic Dash 2: Sonic Boom[2] andSonic Jump Fever.[6][7] After these releases, all of which were casual games, Hardlight began looking at developing a more strategy-oriented game involving multiplayer. After some discussions withSonic Team, Hardlight began working onSonic Forces Speed Battle, to tie in with the upcoming 2017 release ofSonic Forces. While development of the game began with a small team of three or four developers, up to 28 were involved with the project as the game closed in on its release.[2]
In April 2019, Hardlight was integrated more closely into Sega Europe, structuring it as one of five "pillars" alongsideCreative Assembly,Sports Interactive,Relic Entertainment, andAmplitude Studios. In the same announcement, Sega emphasized that Hardlight would continue its focus on mobile games.[8] Neall Jones, formerly of Codemasters,Traveller's Tales, andEidos Interactive was announced to be the studio's new director;[9] Southall and operations head Harinder Sangha departed forSumo Digital.[10] Jones anticipated that the studio's staff will double over time.[9] He also expressed a belief in more intellectual property forPCs and consoles will see more releases for mobile devices.[11]
Hardlight developedChuChu Rocket! Universe andSonic Racing—a port ofTeam Sonic Racing—forApple Arcade, which were released on the service's launch date of 19 September 2019.[11][12] Production ofChuChu Rocket! Universe took approximately eight months starting with a team of 15 people that doubled in size over time. In designing the game, a sequel of the 1999Dreamcast gameChuChu Rocket!, Hardlight had to redesign the game in full 3D. According to director Paul Twynholm, testing of the game had to occur internally because the game could not besoft launched for Apple Arcade. Twynholm acknowledged a desire to bring back Sega franchises in future Hardlight releases.[13]
By June 2015,Sonic Dash had been downloaded over 100 million times across multiple different platforms, and had 14 million players per month.[14][15] By November 2017,Sonic Dash's download count was over 300 million. Within its first five days of release, Sonic Forces Speed Battle had been downloaded 1.3 million times,[2] and reached 2 million downloads within its first two weeks.[16] According to Southall in a November 2017 interview, Hardlight was continuing to work on updates forSonic Dash,Sonic Dash 2, andCrazy Taxi: City Rush.[2] In a February 2020 interview, Jones expressed the studio's surprise at the longevity ofSonic Dash, having been downloaded more than 350 million times and earned more than$10.1 million. He spoke on the implementation of new features to keep the game interesting, as well as additions such as a baby Sonic from theSonic the Hedgehog film.[17]
In March 2024, Sega announced it would cut 240 roles across Sega Europe,Creative Assembly, and Hardlight.[18]
| Year | Title | Platform(s) | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Viking: Battle for Asgard | Windows | [1] |
| Sonic Jump | Android,iOS | [2] | |
| 2013 | Sonic Dash | Android, iOS, Windows,Windows Phone | [2] |
| 2014 | Sonic Jump Fever | Android, iOS | [6] |
| Crazy Taxi: City Rush | [5] | ||
| 2015 | Sonic Dash 2: Sonic Boom | ||
| 2016 | BlockAid | Windows | [19] |
| 2017 | Sonic Forces: Speed Battle | Android, iOS | [2] |
| Sonic Forces | Windows | [20] | |
| 2018 | Yakuza 0 | [20][21] | |
| Valkyria Chronicles 4 | [20] | ||
| 2019 | Sonic Racing | Apple Arcade | [12] |
| ChuChu Rocket! Universe | |||
| 2020 | Two Point Hospital | Nintendo Switch,PlayStation 4,Xbox One | |
| 2023 | Sonic Dream Team | Apple Arcade | [22] |
| Title | Platform(s) | Ref. |
|---|---|---|
| Kingdom Conquest: Dark Empire | Android, iOS | [20][23] |
