Image & Form International AB
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
Founded1997 (1997)
FounderBrjánn Sigurgeirsson
Defunct2020 (2020)
FateMerged
SuccessorThunderful Development
Headquarters
Gothenburg
,
Sweden
Key people
Brjánn Sigurgeirsson (CEO)
Number of employees
25 (2019)
ParentThunderful Group (2018–2020)
Websiteimageform.se

Image & Form International AB was a Swedish video game developer based in Gothenburg. The company was founded by Brjánn Sigurgeirsson in 1997 and formed the Thunderful group with Zoink in 2017. In 2020, Image & Form was integrated into Thunderful Development.

History

Image & Form was founded by Brjánn Sigurgeirsson, who acts as its CEO, and an unnamed co-founder in 1997.[1][2] Sigurgeirsson had collected experience in web design after working from Tokyo and San Francisco, and when he applied for several jobs of the same type in Gothenburg and would have gotten all of them, he established Image & Form as a two-man multimedia and web operation to capitalise on this industry.[3] While Sigurgeirsson intended to call the company Imagenation, his co-founder wished for it to be called Monkey Business; a vote between their friends was to resolve this dispute, though a third suggestion, "Image & Form", received the best reception.[2]

The business soon expanded with web-based game production, and in 2002, it was contracted to complete an edutainment game project for a Norwegian publisher.[3] After that project was finished, the two companies continued co-operating for games made entirely by Image & Form.[3] This continued as a side-business for Image & Form until 2007, when the publisher asked for speed up production to produce eight games per year, up from previously one game in 18 months.[3] The series was sold to a Danish publisher that eventually closed in 2009.[4] Through this development, Image & Form created 30 edutainment games in the same series between 2007 and early 2010.[3] Image & Form's portfolio diversified when it released its first iOS game, Gyro the Sheepdog, in late 2009.[3] Following onto this, Image & Form also released Mariachi Hero, Hugo Troll Race, and, in October 2011, Anthill.[3] Its most successful series of games, SteamWorld, started with the release of SteamWorld Tower Defense on Nintendo DSi in 2010.[3][5] In late 2011, Bergsala Holding acquired 50% of the company, and Image & Form became the former's primary development arm.[3] Sigurgeirsson, Bergsala Holding, and Zoink's Klaus Lyngeled decided to merge the two studios and created Thunderful as their parent company in December 2017.[6][7] By April 2019, Image & Form had 25 employees.[8] In 2020, Thunderful (now called Thunderful Group) merged Zoink with Image & Form and Guru Games to create Thunderful Development.[9]

Games developed

Year Title Platform(s)
2010 SteamWorld Tower Defense Nintendo DSi, Nintendo 3DS
2011 Anthill Android, Apple iOS
2013 SteamWorld Dig Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Wii U, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox One, Google Stadia
2015 SteamWorld Heist Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Wii U, Apple iOS, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Google Stadia
2017 SteamWorld Dig 2 Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox One
2019 SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, Apple iOS, Google Stadia
2021 The Gunk Microsoft Windows, Xbox Series X, Xbox One

References

  1. ↑ Dring, Christopher (3 July 2018). "Thunderful acquires UK and US publisher Rising Star Games". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 10 May 2019. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  2. 1 2 Bonds, Curtis; Ronaghan, Neal (15 May 2013). "Image & Form Games Interview with Brjann Sigurgeirsson". Nintendo World Report. Archived from the original on 14 May 2019. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Whitehead, Thomas (27 April 2013). "Developer Interview: Image & Form on SteamWorld Dig, 3DS Development and Working With Nintendo". Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on 11 July 2019. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  4. ↑ Kiepels, Caroline (7 March 2016). "Ångdrivna robotar rusar på topplistorna" [Steam-powered robots rush on the leaderboards]. Di Digital (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 11 July 2019. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  5. ↑ Taylor, Haydn (12 February 2019). "Image & Form: The steam-powered journey to self-sufficiency". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 11 July 2019. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  6. ↑ Kerr, Chris (3 July 2018). "UK publisher Rising Star Games acquired by Thunderful". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 30 September 2018. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  7. ↑ McFerran, Damien (25 January 2018). "Image & Form And Zoink! Games Join Forces Under New Company Thunderful". Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on 6 October 2018. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  8. ↑ Watts, Steve (8 April 2019). "SteamWorld Quest: From Edutainment To Indie Powerhouse". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 11 July 2019. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  9. ↑ "History". Thunderful Group. 2020. Archived from the original on 30 November 2020. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
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