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Klei Entertainment
Canadian video game developer From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Klei Entertainment Inc. (/kleɪ/ KLAY[2]) is a Canadian video game development company located in Vancouver, British Columbia. Klei was formed in July 2005 by Jamie Cheng. Their best-known titles include Don't Starve and Oxygen Not Included.
On January 25, 2021, Klei became a subsidiary of the Chinese holding conglomerate Tencent.
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Jamie Cheng founded Klei Entertainment in July 2005.[3] Prior to the formation of Klei, Cheng worked as a specialist AI programmer at Relic Entertainment, formerly owned by THQ.[4] Cheng sought a company culture where employees live balanced lives, building Klei on the belief that game studios could make popular, interesting games with a reasonable budget, normal hours, and a fair price while still being successful.[5] Cheng acquired seed funding for Klei by selling his THQ shares earned at Relic and getting a $10,000 loan from his brother.[6] With the initial funding secured, Cheng partnered with Jeffrey Agala to become co-founder and Creative Director at the studio. In 2009, Klei had 11 employees[7] and as of May 2013, it had grown to 35 employees.[3]
Their first title, Eets, was first released on March 27, 2006, for Microsoft Windows, then for Mac OS X on December 9, 2010.[8] Between those two releases, the game was ported to the Xbox 360 via the Xbox Live Arcade platform and released on April 25, 2007. Retitled to Eets: Chowdown, this version featured 120 new levels and an action minigame called Marsho Madness.[9]
The company assisted with Slick Entertainment's N+, the Xbox Live Arcade port of the Adobe Flash game N.[10] In 2008, Klei developed Sugar Rush, a casual massively multiplayer online game.[11] They announced in late August 2010, that development had stopped and the game had been canceled. The company's fourth original title, Shank, was announced at Penny Arcade Expo 2009.[12] It was released on August 24, 2010, for the PlayStation 3, August 25, 2010, for the Xbox 360, and October 26, 2010, for Microsoft Windows.[13]
Klei's survival adventure game Don't Starve was released on April 23, 2013. Don't Starve was released in a 2-for-1 beta format on Steam, allowing players to purchase two copies of the game for the price of one. Before it was officially self-published, Klei sold more than 300,000 copies of Don't Starve at a price of $15 each.[3] On April 21, 2016, Klei released a stand-alone multiplayer version of Don't Starve called Don't Starve Together, which has regular updates and individual downloadable content.[citation needed]
On July 2, 2013, it was announced that their next release would be titled Invisible, Inc., a turn-based espionage game released on May 12, 2015.[citation needed]
In 2017, Klei Entertainment acquired Slick Entertainment. Slick founder Nick Waanders and CEO Jamie Cheng previously worked together at Relic Entertainment, which established a working relationship that later allowed the companies to merge.[14]
Klei announced in January 2021 that they had agreed to allow Tencent to acquire a majority stake in the company. Klei would remain in full control of its products, but the Tencent acquisition would help them reach the gaming market in China.[15]
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