Toronto, February 11, 2013 – The Entertainment Software Association of Canada (ESAC) this month welcomed Frontier Developments as its newest associate member. Frontier is a leading independent developer with over 200 employees in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Cambridge, UK.
“Frontier Developments will bring another studio to ESAC’s growing ranks,” said Jayson Hilchie, President & CEO of ESAC. “Having a dynamic studio like Frontier – and our first from Nova Scotia – further diversifies our association and will strengthen our advocacy efforts on behalf of the entire industry,” he added.
Frontier Developments has long-standing relationships with some of the largest publishers including Microsoft®, having developed major Kinect titles such as Kinectimals and Disneyland Adventures for XBOX® 360. Frontier also self-publishes games using digital distribution channels on the major video game platforms. In the recent LostWinds® and Coaster Crazy® iOS games Frontier used its cutting-edge in-house technology to deliver console-quality games on mobile devices, offering immersive, fun gameplay design, unparalleled artistic quality and generating a current combined total of over 12 million downloads.
Frontier also recently successfully completed a record-breaking Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to develop Elite®: Dangerous on PC and Mac platforms.
“ESAC will help advance Frontier’s business interests in Canada,” said David Walsh, President of Frontier Developments, Inc. “ESAC’s small but effective team will help us deal with issues that we otherwise could not tackle alone by collaborating with other companies in Canada, which is crucial to our long-term vitality,” he added.
Frontier was founded in 1994 by David Braben to carry forward his work with an ethos of ground-breaking projects brought to fruition by highly skilled teams. Braben champions skills development and encourages children and teachers to acquire computer programming skills.
ESAC is the voice of the Canadian video game industry that employs approximately 16,000 people at nearly 350 companies across the country. By contributing $1.7 billion in economic activity and cultivating workers with a combination of creative, technological and management skills, the video game industry is supporting Canada’s position in the changing global economy. ESAC works on behalf of its members to ensure the legal and regulatory environment is favourable for the long-term development of Canada’s video game industry. Association members include the nation’s leading interactive software developers and publishers including Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Activision Blizzard, Microsoft Canada, Nintendo of Canada, Sony Computer Entertainment, Disney Interactive Studios, Take Two Interactive, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Frontier Developments as well as distributors Solutions 2 Go and Team One Marketing.
About Frontier
Frontier Developments is an established game development company with over 200 talented developers in the UK and Canada who have used Frontier’s own state-of-the-art technology to deliver an oustanding track record of high quality games including “Kinectimals”, “Disneyland Adventures” and “LostWinds”. Many have been big sellers over a long period of time like “Elite” and “RollerCoaster Tycoon 3” (reached #3 in the budget chart in 2011 an amazing 7 years after release).
About David Braben
David Braben, CEO of Frontier Developments is also co-founder of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, a registered charity making very low cost educational computer equipment (with an ambition to give computers away free to kids in schools), a member of the BAFTA games board, a member of Cambridge Angels, Chairman of the government SkillSet approval committee for university Computer Science courses, and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. David and Frontier are known for many successful games over the years including more recently “Kinectimals”, “Disney Adventures” and “LostWinds”. Many have been big sellers over a long period of time like “Elite” and “RollerCoaster Tycoon 3” (reached #3 in the budget chart in 2011 an amazing 7 years after release).
