Code Monkeys shuts down after 23 years

Longstanding independent developer The Code Monkeys has shut down after 23 years of business, Develop can confirm.

The Yorkshire-based studio had, since forming in 1988, developed around 200 published games. Yet last year it faced financial troubles and was forced to make a “small number” of redundancies.

On the Company’s 23rd birthday, which landed on the 1st February 2011, the studio’s shareholders elected to cease trading.

The group’s final game was the iPad title Triple Jumping Sports. Its first title was called Compac, a puzzle game built for the Sinclair ZX81 in 1988.

The Code Monkeys’ final development director, Adrian Hirst, told Develop in 2010 that “with the recession still going on a lot of businesses are having to cut staff, and we’re just one of them.”

He insisted that the firm would not be closing down, with more projects in the pipeline.

The Code Monkeys had in recent times turned to digital distribution channels as a test-bed for self-publishing. It has recently begun releasing new IP on Nintendo’s WiiWare and DSiWare platforms, and has also been working on PSP Mini and iPhone games.