Ready At Dawn Studios LLC (RAD) is an American video game developer located in Irvine, California, and is composed of former members of Naughty Dog[1] and Blizzard Entertainment.[2] Formed in 2003, the company has primarily worked on games for the PlayStation Portable (PSP), most notably the Sony Computer Entertainment intellectual property God of War and Daxter. Ready At Dawn had a satellite campus in Portland, Oregon, to assist with future PC and console game development, but closed the office in 2022 as they adapted a hybrid work model. The studio is part of Oculus Studios as of June 2020.
 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video game industry |
| Founded | 2003 |
| Founder | Ru Weerasuriya Andrea Pessino Didier Malenfant |
| Headquarters | Irvine, California, United States |
Number of locations | 2 studios (2018) |
Key people | Ru Weerasuriya (CCO) Andrea Pessino (CTO) |
| Products | Daxter God of War series Lone Echo series |
Number of employees | 20+ |
| Parent | Oculus Studios (2020–present) |
| Website | readyatdawn.com |
History
Ready At Dawn was founded in 2003 in Irvine, California, United States by Ru Weerasuriya, Andrea Pessino, Didier Malenfant, and former members of the Sony Computer Entertainment subsidiary Naughty Dog.[1] They released their first game, Daxter, in 2006. The company finished working on their second PSP game, God of War: Chains of Olympus[3] as well as a Wii port of Ōkami, with added motion controls.[4] In June 2008 it was confirmed that the company had ceased developing games for the PSP, and that they had returned the relevant development kits to Sony.[5] However, reports claim that the developer received new development kits after returning. Their next game was God of War: Ghost of Sparta, collaboratively developed with Santa Monica Studio for the PSP, with their new proprietary engine. Ready At Dawn released the God of War: Origins Collection for the PlayStation 3 on September 13, 2011. This collection is a port of their two God of War games for the PSP, Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta, to the PS3 with high-definition graphics, DualShock 3 support, Trophies, and Stereoscopic 3D, the first God of War release to support this feature.
In October 2009, Ready At Dawn began working on a new game engine. The Ready At Dawn Engine is said to be a wholly console-centric platform, integrated with a suite of third-party tools that require no additional license. These tools include 3D content editing, audio, user interface, and asset management systems.[6] In July 2010, it was announced that Ready At Dawn had made thirteen employees redundant, citing difficulties in finding funding between projects behind the redundancies.[7] In early 2012, the company began hiring for the development of a third-person action-adventure game for a "next generation home console game system."[8] Ready At Dawn and Sony later revealed the game at E3 2013 as The Order: 1886.
In June 2015, Ru Weerasuriya, the founder of the company, announced that his position as CEO will be replaced by Paul Sams and will step down to become the company's president and chief creative officer.[9]
In April 2017, Ready At Dawn was in attendance at the large Chinese game publisher, Tencent’s UP Conference, this was to announce a partnership to bring Ready At Dawn games into China. This partnership was headlined by bringing the game Deformers to China, although it was short lived due to the Deformers servers being shut down August 2018.
In July 2017, Ready At Dawn released Lone Echo and Echo Arena[10] exclusively for the Oculus Rift. Echo Arena has since been included in the VR League,[11] a VR esports segment of ESL, since Season 1. In November 2018, Ready At Dawn released Echo Combat,[12] a first-person shooter DLC using the same zero-g movement found in Echo Arena, and announced that the company had opened a satellite studio in Portland, Oregon.[13] It is to be believed that this new satellite studio is a part of the development of Ready At Dawn’s new project that was teased back in February 2018.
In June 2020, Oculus Studios, under Meta Platforms, acquired Ready At Dawn to develop VR titles for the platform.[14]
In January 2023, Ready At Dawn announced they would be shutting down Echo VR (Echo Arena & Echo Combat) on August 1, 2023, to focus on future projects.[15]
In April 2023, the studio was hit by layoffs, which resulted in roughly a third of the employees being laid off.[16]
Games developed
| Game title | North American release date | Platform | Metacritic score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daxter | March 14, 2006 | PlayStation Portable | 85/100[17] |
| God of War: Chains of Olympus | March 4, 2008 | 91/100[18] | |
| Ōkami | April 15, 2008 | Wii | 90/100[19] |
| God of War: Ghost of Sparta | November 2, 2010 | PlayStation Portable | 86/100[20] |
| God of War: Origins Collection | September 13, 2011 | PlayStation 3 | 84/100[21] |
| The Order: 1886 | February 20, 2015 | PlayStation 4 | 63/100[22] |
| Deformers[23] | April 21, 2017 | PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, Xbox One | 60/100[24] |
| Lone Echo | July 20, 2017 | Oculus Rift | 89/100[25] |
| Echo Arena | July 20, 2017 | Oculus Rift, Meta Quest | 87/100[26] |
| Echo Combat | November 15, 2018 | Oculus Rift | 80/100[27] |
| Lone Echo II[28] | October 12, 2021 | Oculus Rift | 78/100[29] |
References
Wawro, A. (n.d.). Ready at Dawn joins list of devs working with Tencent to launch games into China. Retrieved from http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/296511/Ready_At_Dawn_joins_list_of_devs_working_with_Tencent_to_launch_games_into_China.php
Kidwell, E. (n.d.). Ready at Dawn shuts down Deformers servers. Retrieved from https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/324451/Ready_at_Dawn_shuts_down_Deformers_servers.php