Halfbrick Studios Pty Ltd is an Australian video game developer based in Brisbane. The company primarily worked on licensed games until 2008. The company is best known for Fruit Ninja (2010), Jetpack Joyride (2011), and Dan the Man (2015). They create games for Windows, Xbox, PlayStation, Windows Phone, Android and iOS. Outside of their Brisbane headquarters, Halfbrick also has offices in Sydney, Adelaide, Spain, Bulgaria, and Los Angeles.
History The company rose to prominence in 2010 with their game Fruit Ninja; by 2012, the game was on one third of all iPhones in the United States. By 2015, the game had been downloaded over 1 billion times.
In March 2012, Halfbrick Studios acquired Onan Games for an undisclosed price to make use of their software Mandreel, which allows games to support iOS, Android, Adobe Flash and HTML5 development.
In 2013, COO Luke Muscat held a Game Developers Conference talk about a physical game, Tank Turn Tactics, that was invented to be played internally by studio employees, but had to be banned due to its impact on workplace morale. The ability to gift "action points" to allies caused factions to form within the office, leading to betrayals that made employees refuse to work together. Tank Turn Tactics was also featured in a 2021 documentary by People Make Games.
In 2017, Halfbrick Studios was inducted into the QBLHOF. Halfbrick is one of Australia's fastest growing companies, and is among Australia's most notable cultural exports. In 2020, the company announced a "complete rebuild" of Fruit Ninja with a new engine and new graphics.
In 2023, Halfbrick Studios announced that they were switching from their free-to-play into a subscription model, by launching Halfbrick+. For a monthly fee, subscribers can play all the studio's games without ads or further in-app purchases.
Games Year Title Platform(s) 2002 Rocket Power: Beach Bandits GameCube, PlayStation 2 2003 Fuzz & Rocket Game Boy Advance 2004 Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2: Bush Rescue 2005 Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 3: Night of the Quinkan 2006 Barnyard Avatar: The Last Airbender Nicktoons: Battle for Volcano Island 2007 Heatseeker PlayStation Portable Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Burning Earth Game Boy Advance 2008 Hellboy: The Science of Evil PlayStation Portable Avatar: The Last Airbender – Into the Inferno Nintendo DS 2009 Marvel Super Hero Squad Halfbrick Blast Off Xbox 360, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3 Halfbrick Echoes Xbox 360, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, Zune HD Halfbrick Rocket Racing / Aero Racing Xbox 360, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3 2010 Age of Zombies iOS, Android, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita, Ouya Fruit Ninja iOS, Android, Bada, Windows Phone, Symbian Halfbrick Blast Off iOS Sunset Studio: Behind the Scenes! Microsoft Windows The Last Airbender Nintendo DS Monster Dash iOS, Android Raskulls Xbox 360 2011 de Blob 2 Nintendo DS Fruit Ninja HD Microsoft Windows Fruit Ninja FX Arcade Fruit Ninja Kinect Xbox 360 Fruit Ninja Frenzy Facebook Age of Zombies iOS, Android Monster Dash Google Chrome Jetpack Joyride Android, iOS Fruit Ninja: Puss In Boots Steambirds: Survival Age of Zombies Anniversary iOS 2012 Jetpack Joyride Android, BlackBerry OS, Facebook, PlayStation Vita, Windows Runtime Fruit Ninja (Microsoft Store) Windows Runtime 2013 Fish Out of Water Android, iOS Fruit Ninja (Leap Motion) Microsoft Windows Fruit Ninja Skittles Android, iOS Band Stars Colossatron: Massive World ThreatShadows Remain 2014 Bears vs. Art Birzzle Fever Yes Chef Radical Rappelling Top Farm 2015 Fruit Ninja Kinect 2 Xbox One Fruit Ninja Academy: Math Master Android, iOS 2016 Fruit Ninja VR Microsoft Windows, PlayStation VR, Meta Quest, Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest Pro, Meta Quest 3 Star Skater Android, iOS Dan the Man 2019 Magic Brick Wars 2020 Battle Racing Stars Wobble Drop Fruit Ninja 2 2022 Jetpack Joyride 2 iOS 2023 Fruit Ninja VR 2 Microsoft Windows, Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest Pro, Meta Quest 3Colossatron: Cosmic CrisisiOS, AndroidJumper's QuestBrickleGibberish2024The Thrill of the Fight 2Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest Pro, Meta Quest 3 2025 Bluey's Quest for the Gold Pen iOS, Android, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows TBA Dan the Man 2 iOS, Android
References
External links
Halfbrick Studios digital story and oral history: Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame 2017, State Library of Queensland