History
Kuju Entertainment have collaborated with the majority of top tier publishers and continue to develop for all the major platforms. Kuju helped develop EyeToy: Play 2 and EyeToy: Play 3 for the PlayStation 2, the multiplayer mode in Call of Duty: Finest Hour, Battalion Wars for the Nintendo GameCube, and Battalion Wars 2 for the Wii, as well as the multiplayer component of Dark Messiah of Might and Magic for PC. Kuju also developed the 2006 remake of Sensible Soccer. In 2007, Kuju Entertainment developed Rail Simulator for PC (a spiritual successor to Microsoft Train Simulator), and EyeToy Play Sports for the PS2.
On 15 December 2006, it was announced that a bid had been made for Kuju Entertainment by the German investment group Catalis. The offer was 0.25 GBP for each Kuju share, with a total value of approximately £4.375 million (6.53 million euro). Kuju's board of directors has unanimously recommended the offer to shareholders.
On 1 March 2007, Kuju's Brighton development studio underwent a rebranding to Zoë Mode. Ed Daly, head of Zoë Mode, said: "We've created Zoë Mode; she is the personality that reflects our in-house philosophy of accessible, fun gaming for everyone. Zoë Mode does not represent one individual but represents the developers at the studio, the culture of the studio and the consumers." Kuju said that Zoë Mode may undergo cosmetic changes but her character will remain the same.
On 25 June 2007, it was announced that Kuju has re-branded its Sheffield studio as Chemistry and will be specialising in developing games based on the Unreal Engine 3. On 1 January 2008, Kuju announced the opening of its first U.S. office in San Francisco run by John Kavanagh, erstwhile head of development at Domark and Eidos Interactive.
On 29 July 2008, Kuju announced a name change for its Kuju London studio in London; named Headstrong Games, it was initially focused on Wii titles, releasing The House of the Dead: Overkill for Sega and Aragorn's Quest for WB. Recent releases include the million selling Nintendo DS title Art Academy.
On 21 October 2008, Kuju announced the acquisition of Matahari Studios in Manila, Philippines. The developer has been rebranded as Kuju Manila and will primarily support the projects of Kuju's other seven studios.
On 7 April 2010, Kuju announces that Nigel Robbins takes over the CEO role as Jonathan Newth and Ian Baverstock step down to become non-exec directors.
Vatra Games is the newest development group within the Kuju family of studios and is located in the Czech Republic. The focus is on action titles for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. Vatra worked on Silent Hill: Downpour for Konami.
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