High Moon Studios

{{Infobox company

| name = High Moon Studios, Inc.

| logo = High Moon Studios Logo.png

| type = Subsidiary

| fate =

| predecessor =

| former_names = Sammy Entertainment Inc. {{small|(2001–2002)}}
Sammy Studios, Inc. {{small|(2002–2005)}}

| foundation = {{start date and age|2001|04}} (as Sammy Entertainment Inc.)

| founder =

| location_city = Carlsbad, California

| location_country = US

| location =

| area_served =

| key_people = Peter Della Penna (president)

| industry = Video games

| products = {{ubl|Darkwatch (2005)|Transformers series (2010–2012)|Deadpool (2013)|Destiny series (2014–2017)|Call of Duty series (2014–present)}}

| num_employees = 155

| parent = Sammy Corporation (2001–2005)
Vivendi Games (2006–2008)
Activision (2008–present)

| homepage = {{Url|highmoonstudios.com}}

| footnotes =

}}

High Moon Studios, Inc. (formerly Sammy Entertainment Inc. and Sammy Studios, Inc.) is an American video game developer initially formed in 2001. After nearly a year as an independent studio, the developer was acquired by Vivendi Games in January 2006 and placed under Sierra Entertainment. It is currently owned by Activision.{{cite web | title=Vivendi Universal Games Acquires High Moon Studios | url=http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/01-05-2006/0004243752&EDATE= | access-date=January 5, 2006 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205002943/http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vivendi-universal-games-acquires-high-moon-studios-53154337.html | archive-date=February 5, 2012 | url-status=dead }}{{cite web|title=A Day in the Life |url=http://www.gamesfromwithin.com/articles/0602/000104.html |publisher=Games From Within |access-date=July 21, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511212336/http://www.gamesfromwithin.com/articles/0602/000104.html |archive-date=May 11, 2008 }} It has developed multiple Transformers video games and assisted in the development of select Call of Duty games, as well as Destiny.

History

High Moon Studios was formed in April 2001 as a division of the Japanese publisher Sammy, first known as Sammy Entertainment and later renamed Sammy Studios the following year, to develop and publish games in America. After Sammy merged with Sega to form Sega Sammy Holdings on October 1, 2004, Sammy discontinued all video game development in America to focus on its Japanese productions, and planned on closing Sammy Studios as part of this. However on March 3, 2005, Sammy Studios was acquired in a management buyout by a group led by president and CEO John Rowe, and renamed High Moon Studios. Turning to game development only, the studio continued development of games from its time as Sammy Studios, including the Western horror shooter Darkwatch. In January 2006, it was announced that Vivendi Universal Games had acquired the studio. After the merger of Vivendi and Activision, High Moon became a subsidiary of Activision.

Following the completion of Deadpool, Activision laid off 40 full-time employees from High Moon Studios that worked on the project. Activision stated "Activision Publishing consistently works to align its costs with its revenues – this is an ongoing process, with the completion of development on Deadpool, we are taking a reduction in staff at High Moon Studios to better align our development talent against our slate."{{cite web|url=https://kotaku.com/activision-lays-off-high-moon-studios-deadpool-team-466330803|title=Activision Lays Off High Moon Studios' Deadpool Team|website=Kotaku|last=Fahey|first=Mike|date=April 2, 2013|access-date=June 23, 2019}}

Games developed

class="wikitable"
rowspan="2" \| Year ! rowspan="2" \| Title ! colspan="9" \| Platform(s)
style="width:4em; font-size:90%" \| PS2 ! style="width:4em; font-size:90%" \| PS3 ! style="width:4em; font-size:90%" \| PS4 ! style="width:4em; font-size:90%" \| PS5 ! style="width:4em; font-size:90%" \| Win ! style="width:4em; font-size:90%" \| Xbox ! style="width:4em; font-size:90%" \| X360 ! style="width:4em; font-size:90%" \| XOne ! style="width:4em; font-size:90%" \| XSX
2005 \| Darkwatch \| {{Yes}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}}
2008 \| Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}}
2010 \| Transformers: War for Cybertron \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}}
2011 \| Transformers: Dark of the Moon \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}}
2012 \| Transformers: Fall of Cybertron \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{No}}
2013 \| Deadpool \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{No}}
2014 \| Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{No}}
2014 \|Destiny{{cite web\|url=http://www.vg247.com/2015/05/28/destiny-ps3-xbox-360-high-moon-studios/\|title=High Moon Studios is lending a hand on Destiny development [confirmed]\|last=Nunneley\|first=Stephany\|date=May 28, 2015\|work=VG247\|access-date=May 29, 2015}} \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{No}}
2016 \|Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{No}}
2017 \|Destiny 2 \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{No}}
2017 \|Call of Duty: WWII \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{No}}
2019 \|Call of Duty: Modern Warfare \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{No}}
2020 \|Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{Yes}}
2021 \| Call of Duty: Vanguard \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{Yes}}
2022 \| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{Yes}}
2023 \| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{Yes}}
2024 \| Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{No}} \| {{No}} \| {{Yes}} \| {{Yes}}

class="wikitable"

rowspan="2" | Year

! rowspan="2" | Title

! colspan="9" | Platform(s)

style="width:4em; font-size:90%" | PS2

! style="width:4em; font-size:90%" | PS3

! style="width:4em; font-size:90%" | PS4

! style="width:4em; font-size:90%" | PS5

! style="width:4em; font-size:90%" | Win

! style="width:4em; font-size:90%" | Xbox

! style="width:4em; font-size:90%" | X360

! style="width:4em; font-size:90%" | XOne

! style="width:4em; font-size:90%" | XSX

2005

| Darkwatch

| {{Yes}}

| {{No}}

| {{Yes}}

| {{No}}

2008

| Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy

| {{No}}

| {{Yes}}

| {{No}}

| {{Yes}}

| {{No}}

2010

| Transformers: War for Cybertron

| {{No}}

| {{Yes}}

| {{No}}

| {{Yes}}

| {{No}}

| {{Yes}}

| {{No}}

2011

| Transformers: Dark of the Moon

| {{No}}

| {{Yes}}

| {{No}}

| {{Yes}}

| {{No}}

2012

| Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

| {{No}}

| {{Yes}}

| {{No}}

| {{Yes}}

| {{No}}

| {{Yes}}

| {{No}}

2013

| Deadpool

| {{No}}

| {{Yes}}

| {{No}}

| {{Yes}}

| {{No}}

| {{Yes}}

| {{No}}

2014

| Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

| {{No}}

| {{Yes}}

| {{No}}

| {{Yes}}

| {{No}}

| {{Yes}}

| {{No}}

2014

|Destiny{{cite web|url=http://www.vg247.com/2015/05/28/destiny-ps3-xbox-360-high-moon-studios/|title=High Moon Studios is lending a hand on Destiny development [confirmed]|last=Nunneley|first=Stephany|date=May 28, 2015|work=VG247|access-date=May 29, 2015}}

| {{No}}

| {{Yes}}

| {{No}}

| {{Yes}}

| {{No}}

2016

|Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered

| {{No}}

| {{Yes}}

| {{No}}

| {{Yes}}

| {{No}}