MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Yesterday we revealed that EA Canada became the top ranking studio in our recently released Develop 100, which ranks the world’s best studios.
Over the coming weeks Develop will be publishing extracts and highlight data from the book, which uses GfK Chart-Track research on retail sales to formulate a ranking based on UK revenues.
Today we take at look at how Traveller’s Tales became the top ranking UK developer, pipping other well-renowned UK studios such as Rocksteady and Codemasters.
Traveller’s Takes
History: Founded in 1989, the studio was acquired by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment in 2007. It is located in Cheshire, UK.
Success in 2011: Traveller’s Tales’ games, all based on the LEGO franchise, made the developer an impressive £38.87m in revenue at UK retail last year.
Its most successful titles were LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean, which garnered the studio £13.96m across all platforms, followed closely by LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars.
Analysis: Traveller’s Tales has worked on a plethora of popular game franchises and movie tie-ins throughout its history but these days its bread and butter is the LEGO licence, which it has exclusive rights to.
The success of these games, which started with Lego Star Wars, convinced Warner Bros. to acquire the developer in 2007. Harry Potter, Batman and Pirates of the Caribbean games followed, offering game extensions to the licences Denmark-based LEGO signed for its toy line. POTC earned the company £13.96m in UK sales.
Want to know more? Traveller’s Takes entry includes a wealth of extra information – and there are dedicated profiles for each of the studios in the top 100. Get the Develop 100 now.
