Black Ops Entertainment was an American mobile app developer and former video game developer located in Santa Monica, California.[1] From 1994 it developed sixteen games for several platforms, including the PlayStation, Nintendo 64, PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox. After the games team was shut down in 2006, founder John Botti continued to use the name while developing stock trading apps for iOS and Android. The last of these was aiTrader in 2019.[1][2]
 | |
| Industry | Video games |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1994 |
| Defunct | 2019 |
| Fate | Game studio shut down in 2006; continued as app developer until 2019. |
| Headquarters | , United States |
Key people | John Botti |
| Products | Video games Mobile apps |
Number of employees | 30 (2002) |
| Website | blackops.com |
History
editThe company was founded by four MIT graduates in 1994, who developed a SNES Volleyball prototype. Virgin Games contracted them to produce Agile Warrior, which necessitated recruiting a larger team. Initially developing out of their homes, the studio later established their Santa Monica office.[3][1]
Black Ops became known for their line of sports titles, including their contributions to the NCAA Basketball series.[4] The developer received an AIAS award in 2000, with Knockout Kings 2000 winning console sports game of the year.[5] In the early 2000s, Black Ops released two street basketball titles; Street Hoops and AND 1 Streetball. The decision to move to street basketball as opposed to continuing with NCAA came from a desire to be able to develop "unique play styles with no rules", and avoid the need for permission from the NCAA. The team size peaked at 30 developers during the development of Street Hoops in 2002.[6]
The video game studio shut down in 2006, though John Botti continued producing iOS and Android apps under the moniker such as iTraderPro (2011) and aiTrader (2019).[2][7][8]
Titles
editGames
edit| Year | Title | Platform(s) | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Agile Warrior F-111X | PC, PS1 | Virgin Interactive |
| 1996 | Black Dawn | PS1, Saturn | |
| 1997 | Treasures of the Deep | PS1 | Namco/Sony Computer Entertainment |
| 1999 | Knockout Kings | PS1, N64 | EA Sports |
| 1999 | Warpath: Jurassic Park | PS1 | EA Games/DreamWorks Interactive |
| 007: Tomorrow Never Dies | EA Games/MGM Interactive | ||
| NCAA March Madness 2000 | EA Sports | ||
| 2000 | 007: The World Is Not Enough | EA Games | |
| Knockout Kings 2001 | PS1, PS2 | EA Sports | |
| NCAA March Madness 2001 | PS1 | ||
| 2002 | Knockout Kings 2002 | PS2, Xbox | |
| Street Hoops | PS2, Xbox, GameCube | Activision | |
| 2003 | Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines | PS2, Xbox | Atari |
| America's 10 Most Wanted | PC, PS2 | Encore Software/Play-It | |
| 2004 | The X-Files: Resist or Serve | PS2 | Vivendi Universal Games |
| 2006 | AND 1 Streetball[1] | PS2, Xbox | Ubisoft |
Apps
edit- ITrader Pro (2011)
- Avattire (2014)
- Californiageddon (2017)
- Ace Driver (2018)
- aiTrader (2019)
References
edit- ^ a b c d "Black Ops Entertainment". www.blackops.com.
- ^ a b "Black Ops Entertainment". www.blackops.com.
- ^ "Disney Interactive's José Villeta Shares Career Path & Talks Disney Infinity 3.0". Latin Post - Latin news, immigration, politics, culture. December 9, 2015.
- ^ "The Street Hoops Interview - IGN". May 30, 2002 – via www.ign.com.
- ^ "Game Developer Details". www.interactive.org.
- ^ "Street Hoops Q&A".
- ^ "Black Ops Entertainment". www.blackops.com.
- ^ Jack Dorsey (May 16, 2019). "What happened to Black ops?". Retro Gamer. Retrieved October 12, 2023 – via Press Reader.