History
Frontier Developments is an independent, self publishing games developer based in Cambridge, UK.
Founded by David Braben in 1993, Frontier Developments' first game was Frontier: Elite II. This was a sequel to the seminal game Elite (1984), upon which Braben was a lead developer. Frontier then went on to develop numerous games, mostly for third party publishers. These games included Roller Coaster Tycoon 3, Zoo Tycoon, Kinectimals, Screamride, Thrillville and Lost Winds.
In 2015 Frontier transitioned to a self publishing developer. The advent of online clients such as "Steam" meant that they could cut out the middle man and publish themselves direct to the consumer. They launched a kickstarter campaign for a new installment in the Elite series called Elite Dangerous. The campaign was a huge success and raised a record £1,578,316, past the goal of £1,250,000. Elite Dangerous became a huge success, has sold 2.5 million units to date, and was known for it's scale replica of the Milky Way galaxy.
Following this Frontier launched Planet Coaster in 2016. Drawing on their extensive expertise in Theme Park management sims, notably the Roller Coaster Tycoon franchise, they brought the genre to a new generation with next generation graphics and game play. Planet Coaster has since sold over 1.5 million units. It is known for its vast scope for creativity, and maintains a large database of user generated content, currently 200,00 user creations.
The Chinese tech giant Tencent bought 9% of the company for £17 million in 2017. This not only helped to raise funds for Frontier but also gave the company a direct link to the Chinese gaming market. Tencent is the largest distributor of games in China, having previously brought Rocket League, Overwatch, and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) to Chinese gamers.
Most recently Frontier aquired a license from Universal Studios to create game based on the Jurassic Park franchise. Jurassic World Evolution was released on June 12th on the first day of E3 2018. The game allows the player to create their own Jurassic World Park, discover and create their own dinosaurs to populate the park with and attract guests, whilst attempting to maintain control of said dinosaurs in the face of multiple threats to park security.
The fourth franchise is due to be revealed soon. It is said to be another IPO with a global fan base.
Photo: David Braben from the 2016 christmas live stream, artists rendering of the new Frontier offices at Cambridge.