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22cans

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22cans Ltd
Company typePrivate
IndustryVideo games
Founded20 February 2012; 12 years ago (2012-02-20) in Farnborough, England
FounderPeter Molyneux
Headquarters
Guildford
,
England
Key people
ProductsCuriosity: What's Inside the Cube?, Godus
Website22cans.com

22cans Ltd is a British video game developer based in Guildford. It was founded in February 2012 by Peter Molyneux, previously of Bullfrog Productions and Lionhead Studios.

History

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Peter Molyneux, who had previously founded Bullfrog Productions and Lionhead Studios, established 22cans on 20 February 2012 in Farnborough. To do so, he left Lionhead and partnered with Tim Rance and Peter Murphy, Lionhead's former chief technology officer and company director, respectively. Molyneux first announced the establishment on 7 March.[1] By April that year, he had received more than 1,000 applications.[2] Significant hires were Jack Attridge in July 2012 and Jamie Stowe in April 2013.[3][4]

22cans' first game was Curiosity: What's Inside the Cube?, which was released for Android and iOS on 6 November 2012.[5] In 2015, following the troubled launch of Godus, Simon Phillips was hired as the company's chief executive officer, replacing Molyneux, who would henceforth focus on game design.[6] Godus' co-creator and designer Jack Attridge had left the studio by April 2015,[3] while Godus' remaining designer, Konrad Naszynski, left in June 2016, as his contract with the company had ended.[7]

In November 2016, 22cans released The Trail: Frontier Challenge for mobile devices[8] with modest promotion.[9] 22cans and publisher Kongregate later announced in July 2017 they would rework the mobile game for PC, with Molyneux saying they would "take the core gameplay and narrative of The Trail on mobile and reimagine it for Steam players," with gameplay that would be "far more strategic."[8] It was released for Microsoft Windows and macOS on Steam 15 August 2017.[10] It was then released for the Nintendo Switch March 2018.[11]

In February 2019, 22cans announced Legacy, a game inspired by Molyneux's first released game, The Entrepreneur (1984),[12] a text-based business simulation game about running a fledgling company.[13] The studio underwent an undisclosed number of layoffs in February 2021, though confirmed that development would continue.[14] Molyneux announced in December 2021 that Legacy will incorporate blockchain-based elements including non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which will allow players to sell and purchase virtual goods as part of the business simulation gameplay.[15] By March 2022, before the announcement of a release date and more than a year-and-a-half before the game's eventual release, all in-game land plots were sold by 22cans,[16] generating over US$50,000,000 in revenue from cryptocurrency-based sales of digital land NFTs.[16][17] The game was released to the public on 26 October 2023 on Gala Games as a freemium title for macOS and Microsoft Windows.[18]

In June 2023, Molyneux announced 22cans was working on a new game, likely for PC and console and less likely to be developed for mobile. Though Molyneux gave few details, he said it is the first game he's coded for since his work on Black & White and that the studio has been exploring ideas for the game for the past five years.[19] Molyneux later revealed the project was titled Project MOAT and will be set in Albion, a fictional setting from the Fable franchise.[20]

Games developed

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Year Title Platform(s) Publisher(s)
2012 Curiosity: What's Inside the Cube? Android, iOS 22cans
2014 Godus Android, iOS, macOS, Microsoft Windows DeNA, 22cans
2016 Godus Wars macOS, Microsoft Windows 22cans
The Trail: Frontier Challenge Android, iOS, macOS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch Kongregate
2023 Legacy macOS, Microsoft Windows Gala Games

References

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  1. ^ Cooper, Daniel (7 March 2012). "Peter Molyneux leaves Lionhead and Microsoft to found 22 Cans". Engadget. Archived from the original on 19 September 2020. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  2. ^ Mallory, Jordan (21 April 2012). "Molyneux: Over 1,000 applicants for work at 22 Cans". Engadget. Archived from the original on 16 February 2021. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  3. ^ a b Sinclair, Brendan (20 April 2015). "Jack Attridge departs 22 Cans". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 6 September 2015. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  4. ^ Hilliard, Kyle (27 April 2013). "Former Ubisoft Design Director Joins Molyneux's 22 Cans". Game Informer. Archived from the original on 25 January 2021. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  5. ^ Shankland, Stephen (29 November 2012). "Curiosity's difficult debut, moment by moment". CNET. Archived from the original on 20 October 2020. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  6. ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (19 July 2015). "Meet the man cleaning up after the Godus disaster". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  7. ^ Chalk, Andy (28 June 2016). "Godus designer is no longer with 22 Cans". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  8. ^ a b Takahashi, Dean (13 July 2017). "Peter Molyneux's The Trail: Frontier Challenge is coming to Steam (update)". VentureBeat. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  9. ^ Donnelly, Joe (1 September 2017). "Peter Molyneux on press exile, No Man's Sky and kickstarting his career". PC Gamer. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  10. ^ Andy Chalk (16 August 2017). "Peter Molyneux's The Trail: Frontier Challenge is now on Steam". PC Gamer. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  11. ^ Croft, Liam (8 March 2018). "Review: The Trail: Frontier Challenge (Switch eShop)". Nintendo Life. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  12. ^ Wales, Matt (12 February 2019). "Peter Molyneux shares first details on workshop-tinkering industrialist sim Legacy". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  13. ^ "Seeing next-gen games in black and white". Red Herring. 5 April 2001. Archived from the original on 1 February 2010. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  14. ^ Batchelor, James (16 February 2021). "Peter Molyneux's studio 22cans suffers layoffs". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 16 February 2021. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  15. ^ Signor, Jeremy (12 December 2021). "Peter Molyneux is making a blockchain-based business sim with NFTs". VG247. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  16. ^ a b Strickland, Derek (13 March 2022). "Peter Molyneux's new game Legacy has sold $57 million worth of NFTs". TweakTown. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
  17. ^ Sweezy, Tim (16 December 2021). "Peter Molyneux's Legacy Isn't Out Yet And Has Already Sold $53M In NFT Game Plots". HotHardware. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
  18. ^ "22Cans New Game "Legacy" Launches on Gala Games". www.prnewswire.com. 26 October 2023. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  19. ^ Caballero, David (30 June 2023). "Here are the first ever details on Peter Molyneux's next project at 22cans". Gamereactor UK. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
  20. ^ Carter, Justin. "Peter Molyneux wants Project MOAT to represent his life's work". www.gamedeveloper.com. Game Developer. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
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