New Blood Interactive
 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 2014 |
| Founders |
|
Key people | Dave Oshry (CEO) |
| Products | |
Number of employees | 25 (2022) |
| Website | newblood |
New Blood Interactive is a video game publisher founded by Aaron Alexander, Kreyg DeZago, and Dave Oshry in 2014. The company originally developed virtual reality games before turning to publishing, first releasing Nick Clinkscales's Super Galaxy Squadron and finding early success with David Szymanski's Dusk.
History
[edit]New Blood Interactive was founded in 2014 by lead designer Aaron Alexander, lead programmer Kreyg DeZago, and chief executive officer Dave Oshry.[1][2] Alexander and Oshry had previously collaborated on the 2013 remake of Rise of the Triad.[1][3] The company initially aimed to develop virtual reality games, including a boxing game it wanted to present at the Game Developers Conference. However, these plans never materialized. Oshry later came into contact with Nick Clinkscales. At the time, New Blood was looking for a pixel artist and Clinkscales needed a publisher for his Kickstarter-backed game Super Galaxy Squadron, so they agreed that New Blood would publish the game and Clinkscales join the company in return.[1] Super Galaxy Squadron was released in January 2015.[4] It was remastered as Super Galaxy Squadron EX in February 2016, with the Super Galaxy Squadron EX Turbo version released in March 2017.[5]
When Oshry encountered David Szymanski, who knew Oshry had worked on the Rise of the Triad remake, Szymanski spontaneously decided to pitch his boomer shooter game Dusk.[1] New Blood released the game into early access in January 2018, and its success gave the company long-time financial support.[1][6] New Blood subsequently signed publishing agreements for further retro-style games, including Amid Evil and Faith: The Unholy Trinity.[1] Towards the end of Dusk's early-access phase, the company brought in Dillon Rogers to help complete the game, which was released in December 2018.[1][7] As New Blood employees, Rogers and Szymanski commenced work on the stealth game Gloomwood. Oshry considered this the beginning of a new phase for the studio, turning from solely a publisher to also developing games internally.[1]
Organization
[edit]As of August 2022, New Blood has 25 employees. The company has a flat hierarchy with many developers helping out on other projects. Most planning is done via Discord. Oshry oversees all development teams and manages the internal quality assurance team, which routinely tests games during their development.[1] Oshry supports trade unions in the video game industry.[8][9]
Games published
[edit]| Year | Title | Developer(s) | Platform(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Super Galaxy Squadron | Psyche Studios | Linux, Windows |
| 2018 | Dusk | David Szymanski | Linux, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows |
| 2019 | Amid Evil | Indefatigable | Nintendo Switch, Windows |
| 2020 | Unfortunate Spacemen | Geoff "Zag" Keene | Windows |
| Ultrakill (early access) | Arsi "Hakita" Patala | Windows | |
| 2021 | Dusk '82 | David Szymanski | Nintendo Switch, Windows |
| 2022 | Gloomwood (early access) | Dillon Rogers, David Szymanski | Windows |
| Faith: The Unholy Trinity | Airdorf Games | Nintendo Switch, Windows | |
| 2023 | Amid Evil VR | Indefatigable, Andre Elijah Immersive | Windows |
| Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous Edition | Nightdive Studios | Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S | |
| 2024 | Fallen Aces (early access) | Trey Powell, Jason Bond | Windows |
| TBA | Untitled CRPG[10] | TBA | TBA |
| Untitled top-down shooter[11] | TBA | TBA | |
| Untitled vehicular combat game[12] | TBA | TBA | |
| Untitled Faith visual novel[13] | TBA | TBA |
Unreleased
[edit]| Title | Developer(s) | Notes | Ref(s). |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lazer Type | Labcoat Studios | [14] | |
| Tonight We Riot | Pixel Pushers Union 512 | Changed publishers to Means Interactive | [15] |
| Maximum Action | George Mandell | Changed publishers to Balloon Moose Games | [16] |
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h i Evans-Thirlwell, Edwin (August 11, 2022). "Studio Profile: New Blood Interactive". Edge. No. 375. Future Publishing. pp. 94–97.
- ^ "Staff". New Blood Interactive. 2014. Archived from the original on March 30, 2014.
- ^ Moor, Bayley (March 16, 2016). "Kaikohe gamer cracking the US". Stuff. Archived from the original on December 4, 2022. Retrieved December 4, 2022.
- ^ Futter, Mike (January 29, 2015). "Super Galaxy Squadron". Game Informer. Archived from the original on December 29, 2022. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
- ^ Cunningham, James (March 7, 2017). "Super Galaxy Squadron Ex Upgrades to Turbo". Harccore Gamer. Archived from the original on December 29, 2022. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
- ^ Tarason, Dominic (December 29, 2017). "Grungy retro FPS Dusk hits Early Access on January 11th". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on December 4, 2022. Retrieved December 4, 2022.
- ^ Tarason, Dominic (October 31, 2018). "Chunky retro FPS Dusk rises from early access on December 10th". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on January 28, 2021. Retrieved December 4, 2022.
- ^ Milner, David (January 16, 2018). "Crunch: The Video Game Industry's Notorious Labor Problem". Game Informer. Archived from the original on July 20, 2019. Retrieved December 4, 2022.
- ^ Colwill, Tim (January 16, 2019). "Game developers need to unionize". Polygon. Archived from the original on December 4, 2022. Retrieved December 4, 2022.
- ^ Smith, Graham (October 11, 2022). "Dusk's developers are making a Fallout-inspired CRPG with first-person combat". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on December 4, 2022. Retrieved December 4, 2022.
- ^ New Blood Interactive [@NewBlood] (June 16, 2022). "@DaveOshry Our top down shooter has actually been in development for a VERY long time. yes, all the levels are hand crafted yes, it has a built in level editor yes, it's co-op yes, that's Hank and V1 yes, most New Blood Universe characters will be in it. https://t.co/doVj94z60t" (Tweet). Archived from the original on September 4, 2022. Retrieved March 25, 2023 – via Twitter.
- ^ New Blood Interactive [@NewBlood] (June 16, 2022). "And yes, we're still working on that little old Car Combat game. Slowly but surely. Meet "The Postman" He used to deliver... Now he's just insane. https://t.co/8KONf0dfzK" (Tweet). Archived from the original on October 9, 2022. Retrieved March 25, 2023 – via Twitter.
- ^ New Blood Interactive [@NewBlood] (June 16, 2022). "As for the other games we've teased such as the FAITH visual novel and AMID EVIL VR? Well @Airdorf and @Ducky_Szymanski are very busy so nothing new to share about your faceless waifu today. And @AndreElijah and team are still hard at work on AEVR as well as "other" things ;) https://t.co/0Qnb5Hpryx" (Tweet). Archived from the original on June 16, 2022. Retrieved March 25, 2023 – via Twitter.
- ^ LeClair, Kyle (September 17, 2016). "Lazer Type Proves How Far Your Typing Skills Can Fall". Hardcore Gamer. Archived from the original on December 28, 2022. Retrieved December 28, 2022.
- ^ Flores, Jake; Ptak, Alex; Lee, Anders (May 13, 2020). "Tonight We Riot w/ Ted & Stephen from Pixel Pusher Union" (Podcast). Pod Damn America. Archived from the original on December 28, 2022. Retrieved December 28, 2022 – via SoundCloud.
- ^ Allen, Joseph (October 14, 2020). "New Blood Is No Longer Working On Maximum Action". TechRaptor. Archived from the original on December 28, 2022. Retrieved December 28, 2022.