Type Subsidiary Owner Ubisoft Headquarters Montreal, Canada Parent organization Ubisoft | Products Net-Z, Rendez-Vous Founded 1998 | |
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Industry Computer and video games | ||
Quazal Technologies is a private company founded in 1998. Once backed by institutional investors, it is now fully owned by its management team following a management buyout in July 2008.
Contents
Quazal provides game-related hosting services and on-line networking and matchmaking middleware for multiplayer games. Its products are used by game publishers and developers all over the world.
On November 4, 2010 GameSpot reported that Quazal Technologies was bought by Ubisoft.
Origins of the Name
Quazal was constructed from two words: "Quetzalcóatl", the Mesoamerican featured serpent god who, they believed, created mankind; and "Quasar", a massive celestial object emitting exceptionally large amounts of energy.
Products
In 1998, Quazal introduced their networking SDK, Net-Z, which abstracts the traditional packet/socket paradigm for game developers. In particular, its patented, network-aware, C++ objects (duplicated objects) can be programmed to automatically synchronize themselves. Syncsim, an extension to Net-Z, provides synchronized simulation capabilities.
In 2004, Quazal introduced the Rendez-Vous SDK. Rendez-Vous is a cross-platform lobby for on-line games. It has both client and server APIs which provide a game/console/player/client with the ability to communicate with the game's remote server/database. The Rendez-Vous backend server can be used to create and organize on-line game matches, open communication between players, and maintain each player's statistics (wins, losses, ranking, etc.).
Quazal produces SDKs for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360, Wii, Windows, iPhone and Mac OS X. Its products are used in the production of on-line games and lobbies for virtually all game genres and gaming platforms.
Games with Quazal Products Include
Quazal's products are used by game publishers and developers all over the world. Some of the many games developed using Quazal's products, are: