Pixelberry Studios
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryGame Developer
FounderOliver Miao, Keith Emnett, Winston She
Headquarters
Mountain View, CA
,
United States
ParentNexon

Pixelberry Studios is a mobile game development company based in Mountain View, California, United States.[1] Founded in 2013 by Oliver Miao, Keith Emnett, and Winston She, Pixelberry aims to create "games with heart,"[2] beginning with Surviving High School and Cause of Death, which deals with themes of bullying, eating disorders and capturing serial killers.[3][4] Since then, the company has fully released three more mobile games: Hollywood U, High School Story.[1][5][6][7] In November 2017, Pixelberry was acquired by Nexon.[8]

Pixelberry launched Choices: Stories You Play in August 2016. Since the shutdown of their other games, Choices is the flagship game and primary focus for the studio.[9] In 2020, a planned plot line in one of Choices' most popular titles was leaked, leading to fan backlash and further criticism of racial insensitivity in Choices stories. Pixelberry's CEO issued a personal apology and pledged $100,000 to Black Girls Code, the Black Writers Collective, and the Latinx Writers Collective. He also committed the company to enact more representative writing and hiring practices.[10] In 2022, Pixelberry launched a sister app to Choices, called StoryLoom which features creator-made, interactive stories.

On July 15, 2022, Pixelberry Studios announced that High School Story will have its servers permanently shut down on August 10, 2022.

References

  1. 1 2 "Mobile game takes a stand against cyberbullying". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  2. ↑ Strauss, Karsten. "Mobile Games With Heart? Pixelberry In 2015". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-04-26.
  3. ↑ "Inside The Game: Why Oliver Miao almost left gaming". pocketgamer.biz. Retrieved 2018-04-26.
  4. ↑ "After bullying, High School Story tackles body image and eating disorders". Polygon. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  5. ↑ "Pixelberry Studios Tackles Teenagers' Body-Image Issues With A New Mobile Game". TechCrunch. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  6. ↑ "16 percent of teens consider suicide before graduation. This quest is for them". The Washington Post. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  7. ↑ "Ex-EA devs add cyberbullying-themed quests to High School Story to teach players how to deal with the issue themselves". Pocket Gamer. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  8. ↑ "Nexon acquires High School Story developer Pixelberry Studios". VentureBeat. 2017-11-10. Retrieved 2018-04-26.
  9. ↑ Ray, Somdyuti Datta. "Pixelberry's 'Choices' Was the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Escape I Needed". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2023-07-29.
  10. ↑ https://www.pixelberrystudios.com/blog/2020/6/15/representation-at-pixelberry


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