Industry Video games, Animation Headquarters Quebec City Number of employees 265 | Website www.frimastudio.com Founded 2003, Quebec City, Canada | |
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Key people Philippe Bégin, Christian Daigle, Steve Couture Products Chariot, Nun Attack, Pocket God (Facebook), Build-A-Bearville, A Space Shooter for 2 Bucks! Video games Chariot, Big Brain Wolf, Zombie Tycoon, Young Thor, Skylanders: Spyro’s Universe Profiles | ||
Frima Studio is a Canadian multiplatform game developer based in Quebec City and founded in 2003. The studio develops products across multiple platforms, including the Web, console, handheld, iPhone, iPad, TV and mobile. They also develop technologies focusing on game development and data analysis.
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They have been noted as one of the fastest-growing companies in Canada.
To date, they have developed 12 MMOGs/Virtual Worlds, two dozen Console and Smartphone titles, over 80 Mobile games, and more than 200 Flash games.
History
Founded in the city of Québec in 2003 by Steve Couture, Philippe Bégin and Christian Daigle in the midst of the dotcom crash. Originally, the name Frima comes from the French word “frimas,” which is the layer of frost that forms around windows during winter. This is due to the fact that the studio made its debut in the poorly-insulated apartment that the three founders shared. It is from these premises that the production of Flash games for Hollywood brands such as Harry Potter and Looney Tunes allowed the business to develop.
In 2008, Frima acquired Humagade, a mobile game developer.
In 2010, with the opening of a second studio in Matane, they counted some 265 full-time employees, and showed no signs of slowing down. Later that year, they became the beneficiary of a $2 million joint investment between the company and the Government of Quebec to fund employee training, the creation of 147 new jobs over the next three years, and the maintenance of 201 pre‐existing production‐oriented jobs.
Awards and mentions
Profit 100: Canada’s Fastest-Growing Companies: 10th position
Issued by Profit Magazine
Pixie Awards: Gold Pixie Award for Qualinet Space Odyssey
Issued by the American Pixel Academy
Indie Game Developer of the Year
Issued by Gamefocus.com(fr)
The Best Facebook Games of 2010: 4th place for Pocket God
Issued by Inside Social Games
GalaXseeds
8.5/10 by Play BBG
Rock Paper Sumo
“This game is really fun, addictive, and cute. Even if you don't like Facebook games this is a good one.”
By Tech and Games
Zombie Tycoon
“Fun Gameplay. Simple but effective controls.”
8/10 By PlayStation Lifestyle
A Space Shooter for 2 Bucks!
“If you're looking for a fun way to spend your commute for a week or a way to pass the time while on a lengthy plane ride, you needn’t look much further.”
9/10 by IGN
Chariot
“A lot of love and care went into this game, and it shows in both the excellent mechanics and audio/visual package.”
9/10 by Nintendo Enthusiast
Technologies
Molehill: Frima has been working with the latest version of Adobe Flash Player, which delivers the ability to create, texture and simultaneously animate hundreds of avatars without losing performance, as well as generate advanced special effects. Frima was selected by Adobe as a Molehill pre-release partner.
The SnowStorm Gaming Grid allows the creation of customizable social games and MMOGs.
The NorthStar Dashboard is a set of data tracking tools used to monitor key metrics linked to an online application.
The IceField 3D Engine allows the creation of in-browser 3D experiences using hardware acceleration.
The IceWave 2D Platform is used to easily and seamlessly deploy a project on multiple platforms.