NetDevil

Overview

Created by a small team of part-time employees in 1997, NetDevil grew from three employees to over seventy-five. Based out of Louisville, Colorado, NetDevil focused on Massively Multiplayer Online games. In July 2008, NetDevil was acquired by privately-held Gazillion Entertainment of San Mateo, CA. From late 2010, NetDevil and its parent company were taken to court by Codemasters for their failure to deliver source code for Jumpgate Evolution by February 24, 2009. By this time the three remaining founders, Scott Brown, Ryan Seabury and Peter Grundy had left the company. Seabury and Brown then formed their own studio called END Games Entertainment. In 2011 the court case was settled, and Gazillion quietly closed down the studio.

Development History

• Jumpgate: The Reconstruction Initiative - NetDevil's first title was launched in 2001 to generally good reviews. The project was developed by six team members over the course of many years. In 2011 Gazillion took control of the server and website operations. After eleven years of operating, the game servers were shut down on April 30, 2012.
• Auto Assault - Launched in 2006 to mediocre reviews, Auto Assault was never able to maintain the necessary player base to keep the MMO alive. In 2007 NCsoft shut the servers down permanantly.
• Warmonger, Operation: Downtown Destruction - A free to play 64 player First Person Shooter developed using the Unreal 3 engine and PhysX engine.
• LEGO Universe - In June 2007, the LEGO Group, owners of the LEGO property, announced that NetDevil had been tapped for the development of this project. In 2011, Gazillion Entertainment sold the rights for the game back to LEGO Group along with the game's development team. The LEGO Universe servers were shut down permanently on January 30, 2012.
• Jumpgate Evolution - Also in June 2007, NetDevil announced that development had begun on the sequel to the Jumpgate: The Reconstruction Initiative, subtitled Evolution. The game was billed as an action-based space combat and trading MMO. As of April 2012, the game's website and forums were closed down implying the game had been cancelled by Gazillion. This is likely as a result of the lawsuits brought upon it by Codemasters.