Type Subsidiary of Zynga Owner Zynga Number of employees 55 | Products Video games Website www.buzzmonkey.com Parent organization Zynga | |
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Industry Computer and video games Key people Randy Thompson
Jon Milnes
Steve Cordon
Barry Drew Headquarters Eugene, Oregon, United States Founded 2001, Eugene, Oregon, United States Video games Tomb Raider: Anniversary, Army of Two: The 40th Day, Tony Hawk: Ride, Tomb Raider: Legend, Tomb Raider: Underworld | ||
Buzz Monkey Software is a United States video game developer based in Eugene, Oregon. Buzz Monkey was formed in late 2001 by four former Dynamix employees: senior producer Randy Thompson, senior engineers Jon Milnes and Steve Cordon, and lead artist Barry Drew.
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It was acquired by Zynga in 2012, becoming Zynga Eugene.
History
Buzz Monkey got its start by developing and co-developing licensed property games for the PlayStation 2 and PC systems for publishers such as Simon & Schuster Interactive, Wild Tangent, Vivendi Universal Games, Midway Games, and Sony Computer Entertainment. Buzz Monkey also provided online game lobby development for developer Insomniac Games for PlayStation 2 titles, Ratchet: Deadlocked and Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal.
In June 2006, publisher Eidos Interactive released Tomb Raider: Legend, an action title developed by Buzz Monkey for the PlayStation Portable (PSP). Later that year in November 2006, American publisher Electronic Arts released NFL Street 3, an arcade-style football title developed by Buzz Monkey for the PlayStation 2 and PSP. NFL Street 3 won "Best Alternative Sports Game" of 2006 from IGN.
In June 2007, Eidos, Inc. released another Buzz Monkey title, Tomb Raider: Anniversary, for the PlayStation 2 and PSP, which was co-developed with Crystal Dynamics. Later that year, Eidos, Inc. released the Buzz Monkey-developed Nintendo Wii and Xbox 360 versions of Tomb Raider: Anniversary.
In November 2008, Eidos, Inc. published the Buzz Monkey developed title Tomb Raider Underworld for the Wii. Buzz Monkey also provided animation and programming support to Crystal Dynamics for the development of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of that same game.
On June 4, 2012, the company was acquired by Zynga.
Titles
The developer had also worked on an unreleased video game version of South Park to the original Xbox.