The Chinese Room

The Chinese Room (formerly Thechineseroom) is a British video game developer based in Brighton that is best known for exploration games,[1] such as Dear Esther. The company originated as a mod team for Half-Life 2, based at the University of Portsmouth in 2007, and is named after John Searle's Chinese room thought experiment. In August 2018, it became a subsidiary of Sumo Digital.

For the 1968 film, see The Chinese Room (film). For the artificial intelligence thought experiment, see Chinese room.

The Chinese Room
FormerlyThechineseroom (2007–2013)
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
Founded2007 (2007) in Portsmouth, England
FounderDan Pinchbeck
Headquarters
Brighton
,
England
Key people
Products
ParentSumo Digital (2018–present)
Websitethechineseroom.co.uk

History

Early years (2007–2017)

Thechineseroom's first three projects were two mods for Half-Life 2, named Antlion Soccer and Dear Esther, and a Doom 3 mod titled Conscientious Objector. The modding project was backed by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Of these, Dear Esther became a cult hit. In 2009, Thechineseroom developed Korsakovia, which was a survival horror mod.[2][3]

After Korsakovia, Thechineseroom worked with Robert Briscoe to develop a remake of Dear Esther, this time as a full-fledged video game title, distributed through Valve's Steam distribution service. This stand-alone version of the mod received several IGF nominations, such as the Seamus McNally Grand Prize, Excellence in Visual Arts and Audio, and the Nuovo Award.[4] It finally won for Excellence in Visual Art.[5] The remake featured improved graphics, but was based on the same engine as the previous mods, Source. The game was released in early 2012 and reached 50,000 copies sold within one week.[6]

In February 2012, Thechineseroom announced that they began development on Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, a survival horror game and indirect sequel to Amnesia: The Dark Descent. This project was produced by the makers of the original game, Frictional Games.[7]

Thechineseroom also began work on their newest title, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture alongside the development of Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs. During that time, on 11 June 2013, they renamed themselves from Thechineseroom to The Chinese Room, introducing a new logo.[8] They studio team partnered with Santa Monica Studio to produce Everybody's Gone to the Rapture. It was re-revealed at Gamescom 2013 during Sony's conference as a PlayStation 4 exclusive. The title was finally released on 11 August 2015.[9]

Acquisition and expansion (2017–present)

In late July 2017, The Chinese Room's directors, Dan Pinchbeck and Jessica Curry, laid off the entire staff—at that point eight people—and ditched their Brighton office for home. They cited the lack of ability to pay their staff during the interim between projects as the reason for the closure, and expressed their intentions that the studio itself was still running without the development team, with Pinchbeck and Curry working on prototyping and acquiring funds on their own time. The company released a VR title, So Let Us Melt, for Google Daydream in September, which was the final project of the former studio. At the time, Pinchbeck, Curry, and Andrew Crawshaw were working alone on the studio's next project, 13th Interior, which was to push away from the "walking simulator" model the studio had been known for.[10]

In August 2018, Sumo Group, the parent company of Sumo Digital, acquired The Chinese Room for GB£2.2 million , making it the fourth UK-based studio under Sumo Digital. Co-founder Pinchbeck took the role of creative director for The Chinese Room, while Curry continued as an independent composer for the studio. Pinchbeck described the acquisition as "the end of a chapter" for the studio as they determined their next project.[11] From late summer 2018, The Chinese Room began re-staffing, adding veteran developers Ed Daly as studio director and John McCormack as art director.[12] Dear Esther launched on iOS on 30 September 2019.[13] On 12 June 2020 The Chinese Room released its first Apple Arcade title Little Orpheus to positive reviews.[14] As of October 2020 the studio is working on an unannounced new title.[15]

Games developed
Year Title
2008 Conscientious Objector (mod)
Dear Esther (mod)
Antlion Soccer (mod)
2009 Korsakovia (mod)
2012 Dear Esther
2013 Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
2015 Everybody's Gone to the Rapture
2017 Dear Esther: Landmark Edition
So Let Us Melt[16]
2020 Little Orpheus[17]

References
  1. Makedonski, Brett (25 September 2017). "The Chinese Room is taking a break, partially because it's bored with walking sims". Destructoid.
  2. Burch, Anthony (25 September 2009). "Korsakovia is like the Silent Hill sequel that never was". Destructoid. Archived from the original on 27 October 2015. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  3. RPS (21 September 2009). "An Esther Binge: Korsakovia". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Archived from the original on 23 July 2019. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  4. Polson, John; Procter, Lewie (20 February 2012). "Road to the IGF: Thechineseroom's Dear Esther". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 9 September 2018. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  5. Niedringhaus, Melissa (8 March 2012). "Independent Games Festival announces fourteenth annual awards winners". Warp Zoned. Archived from the original on 13 September 2019. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  6. Chapple, Craig (27 February 2012). "Dear Esther surpasses 50,000 sales". Develop. Archived from the original on 1 March 2012.
  7. Chalk, Andy (23 February 2012). "Frictional Confirms Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs". The Escapist. Archived from the original on 14 December 2018. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  8. Curry, Jessica (11 June 2013). "Welcome to the New Us". The Chinese Room. Archived from the original on 19 June 2013.
  9. Pinchbeck, Dan (11 June 2015). "Everybody's Gone to the Rapture Comes to PS4 August 11th, 2015". PlayStation Blog. Archived from the original on 12 June 2015. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
  10. Yin-Poole, Wesley (25 September 2017). "The doors close on The Chinese Room – for now". Eurogamer.
  11. Handrahan, Matthew (14 August 2018). "Sumo Digital acquires The Chinese Room". GamesIndustry.biz.
  12. Handrahan, Matthew (19 March 2019). "The Chinese Room has grown 10x since Sumo acquisition". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 21 March 2019. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  13. "Dear Esther now Available for iOS and iPadOS". Sumo Digital. 2 October 2019.
  14. "Little Orpheus". Metacritic. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  15. "The Chinese Room's ambition to move out of the art house niche". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  16. "So Let Us Melt". The Chinese Room. Archived from the original on 22 September 2017. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
  17. "Little Orpheus on Apple Arcade". Electronic Gaming Monthly. 12 June 2020. Archived from the original on 21 October 2020. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
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