Category:Foundation 9 Entertainment

Foundation 9 Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game company based in Irvine, California. The company was formed in March 2005 through the merger of video game developers Backbone Entertainment and The Collective.

History
Foundation 9 Entertainment was founded on March 29, 2005, in Los Angeles, through the merger of video game developer Backbone Entertainment and The Collective. Shortly after the merger, on April 12, Foundation 9 acquired and integrated Pipeworks Software. In May, Foundation 9 acquired an equity stake in Circle of Confusion, a Hollywood management company, to establish a strategic partnership.

On June 1, 2006, investment firm Francisco Partners agreed to provide funding to Foundation 9 over a time frame of several years, with additional funding to be provided when needed. The investment was followed by the acquisitions of Shiny Entertainment from Atari, Inc. in October 2006, Amaze Entertainment and related studios in November 2006, and Sumo Digital and its Indian sub-studio in August 2007. Under the terms of Shiny's acquisition, the studio would co-locate and merge with The Collective. The amalgam was named Double Helix Games.

In July 2008, Foundation 9 reinstated Griptonite Games and Fizz Factor, two studios absorbed into Amaze in 2005, under their original brandings. However, in July 2009, Fizz Factor was closed down entirely, while Amaze was merged into Griptonite and Double Helix suffered staff cuts. FXLabs, based in Hyderabad, India, was acquired by Foundation 9 in October 2010 and became part of Griptonite under the name Griptonite India. Griptonite was sold to Glu Mobile in August 2011. In February 2014, Double Helix was sold to Amazon. Later that year, Foundation 9 sold Pipeworks to Italian publisher Digital Bros, and Sumo Digital to its own management, the latter of which was backed by NorthEdge Capital.

Subsidiaries

 * Amaze Entertainment (2007–2009)
 * Backbone Entertainment (2005–2015)
 * Backbone Charlottetown (2006–2007)
 * Backbone Emeryville (2005–2015)
 * Backbone Vancouver (2005–2009)
 * Games2Learn
 * ImaginEngine (2005–2012)
 * The Collective (2005–2007)
 * Double Helix Games (2007–2014)
 * Fizz Factor (2008–2009)
 * Griptonite Games (2008–2011)
 * Griptonite India (2010–2011)
 * Pipeworks Software (2005–2014)
 * Shiny Entertainment (2006–2007)
 * Sumo Digital (2007–2014)
 * Sumo India (2007–2014)