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Zen Studios
Zen Studios is a Hungarian video game developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software with headquarters in Budapest, Hungary and offices in the United States. It is known for its game franchises, Pinball FX and Zen Pinball, as well as CastleStorm, a tower defense hybrid which received the Apple Store's Editor's Choice award. The company is considered "synonymous with licensed pinball tables," having produced well over a hundred tables with characters and themes from the Star Wars and Marvel universes, films like Guardians of the Galaxy, TV series like Archer, South Park, Family Guy and Bob's Burgers, and video game franchises such as Plants vs. Zombies, Portal, Street Fighter, and The Walking Dead.
Zen Studios was founded in Budapest in 2003 by a team of four people. It started as a technology and work for hire studio, doing game engine development, middleware tools, and ports for other games. The company name is based on the team's belief in Zen as a creed to follow in their work and lives, specifically with employees and fans. By the time PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade arrived, the studio had gained knowledge and experience with console platforms and gaming handhelds. The company CEO Zsolt Kigyossy, a pinball fan, decided to try to make the best pinball simulation video game on the market.
Its first pinball game was Pinball FX, released for Xbox 360 in 2007. It would sell more than 100,000 copies per year until 2010. Because Pinball FX was published by Microsoft, it could not appear on Sony’s PlayStation 3, leading to the development of Zen Pinball for the PS3 in 2008 (and later for iOS, the Wii U, and Android). Zen Pinball was the top-selling PSN game in May and September 2009.
The company made the first of its three departures from pinball when it released The Punisher: No Mercy in 2009. This first-person shooter in the style of the Punisher MAX franchise was released for PlayStation 3. The company embarked on what would become its biggest media franchise cooperation yet when they teamed up with Marvel Comics and released Marvel Pinball in December 2010. The cooperation has resulted in twenty-one different pinball tables based on the Marvel Universe, with more anticipated in the future. Another big franchise used for Zen Studios tables is Lucasfilm's and Disney's Star Wars. In 2012, the company debuted Star Wars Pinball, the first pack to feature officially licensed digital Star Wars pinball tables.
In 2013, Zen Studios released two non-pinball games. The company tackled the tower defense genre with CastleStorm for XBLA, a hybrid of traditional tower defense with real-time physics-based Angry Birds-esque catapult combat and resource management. CastleStorm would go on to become a successful franchise, earning the Editor's Choice award in the US Apple App Store, as well as an Editor's Choice distinction from Google Play. Rhythm-based martial arts game KickBeat debuted on the PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 3. On the pinball side, Zen Studios released Super League Football in 2014, where players competed by siding with their favorite European football clubs and famous players. The game was seen as a modern version of the famous pinball machine World Cup Soccer from 1994. The same year saw the release of a Guardians of the Galaxy table.
The company partnered with Valve in mid-2015 to create digital pinball tables based on Valve's games, most notably the Portal table. That year, Zen Studios' licensed tables included a table based on Telltale Game's The Walking Dead and another one based on the TV show South Park. The new Iron & Steel collection consisted of a table based on CastleStorm and the studio's first wholly original table in three years, Wild West Rampage.
In early 2016, Zen Studios teamed up with Oculus Rift to create pinball tables in virtual reality. Pinball FX2 VR, which features three original table designs from the Zen Studios development team, was released on the Oculus Rift's launch day, March 28, 2016.
In 2017, Zen Studios released Pinball FX 3, a joint sequel to Pinball FX 2 and Zen Pinball 2 that bridged a prior divide between Microsoft and non-Microsoft platforms that existed between the first two Pinball FX games and the Zen Pinball sub-series, encouraging cross-platform play. This sequel features most tables from its two predecessors, as well as new original and licensed tables. A year after FX 3 was released, Zen Studios announced that it has recently acquired the rights to develop digital conversions of real-life Bally and Williams pinball tables, a first for the company. Zen then went on to release digital Williams pinball tables as premium add-on content for FX 3 in waves, as well as a stand-alone free-to-play app on mobile devices that contained a compilation of such tables.
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Zen Studios
Zen Studios is a Hungarian video game developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software with headquarters in Budapest, Hungary and offices in the United States. It is known for its game franchises, Pinball FX and Zen Pinball, as well as CastleStorm, a tower defense hybrid which received the Apple Store's Editor's Choice award. The company is considered "synonymous with licensed pinball tables," having produced well over a hundred tables with characters and themes from the Star Wars and Marvel universes, films like Guardians of the Galaxy, TV series like Archer, South Park, Family Guy and Bob's Burgers, and video game franchises such as Plants vs. Zombies, Portal, Street Fighter, and The Walking Dead.
Zen Studios was founded in Budapest in 2003 by a team of four people. It started as a technology and work for hire studio, doing game engine development, middleware tools, and ports for other games. The company name is based on the team's belief in Zen as a creed to follow in their work and lives, specifically with employees and fans. By the time PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade arrived, the studio had gained knowledge and experience with console platforms and gaming handhelds. The company CEO Zsolt Kigyossy, a pinball fan, decided to try to make the best pinball simulation video game on the market.
Its first pinball game was Pinball FX, released for Xbox 360 in 2007. It would sell more than 100,000 copies per year until 2010. Because Pinball FX was published by Microsoft, it could not appear on Sony’s PlayStation 3, leading to the development of Zen Pinball for the PS3 in 2008 (and later for iOS, the Wii U, and Android). Zen Pinball was the top-selling PSN game in May and September 2009.
The company made the first of its three departures from pinball when it released The Punisher: No Mercy in 2009. This first-person shooter in the style of the Punisher MAX franchise was released for PlayStation 3. The company embarked on what would become its biggest media franchise cooperation yet when they teamed up with Marvel Comics and released Marvel Pinball in December 2010. The cooperation has resulted in twenty-one different pinball tables based on the Marvel Universe, with more anticipated in the future. Another big franchise used for Zen Studios tables is Lucasfilm's and Disney's Star Wars. In 2012, the company debuted Star Wars Pinball, the first pack to feature officially licensed digital Star Wars pinball tables.
In 2013, Zen Studios released two non-pinball games. The company tackled the tower defense genre with CastleStorm for XBLA, a hybrid of traditional tower defense with real-time physics-based Angry Birds-esque catapult combat and resource management. CastleStorm would go on to become a successful franchise, earning the Editor's Choice award in the US Apple App Store, as well as an Editor's Choice distinction from Google Play. Rhythm-based martial arts game KickBeat debuted on the PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 3. On the pinball side, Zen Studios released Super League Football in 2014, where players competed by siding with their favorite European football clubs and famous players. The game was seen as a modern version of the famous pinball machine World Cup Soccer from 1994. The same year saw the release of a Guardians of the Galaxy table.
The company partnered with Valve in mid-2015 to create digital pinball tables based on Valve's games, most notably the Portal table. That year, Zen Studios' licensed tables included a table based on Telltale Game's The Walking Dead and another one based on the TV show South Park. The new Iron & Steel collection consisted of a table based on CastleStorm and the studio's first wholly original table in three years, Wild West Rampage.
In early 2016, Zen Studios teamed up with Oculus Rift to create pinball tables in virtual reality. Pinball FX2 VR, which features three original table designs from the Zen Studios development team, was released on the Oculus Rift's launch day, March 28, 2016.
In 2017, Zen Studios released Pinball FX 3, a joint sequel to Pinball FX 2 and Zen Pinball 2 that bridged a prior divide between Microsoft and non-Microsoft platforms that existed between the first two Pinball FX games and the Zen Pinball sub-series, encouraging cross-platform play. This sequel features most tables from its two predecessors, as well as new original and licensed tables. A year after FX 3 was released, Zen Studios announced that it has recently acquired the rights to develop digital conversions of real-life Bally and Williams pinball tables, a first for the company. Zen then went on to release digital Williams pinball tables as premium add-on content for FX 3 in waves, as well as a stand-alone free-to-play app on mobile devices that contained a compilation of such tables.
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