Kwalee

Kwalee Ltd.
TypePrivate
IndustryVideo games
Founded2011; 15 years ago (2011)
FounderDavid Darling
Headquarters
Leamington Spa
,
England
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
SubsidiariesTictales
Websitekwalee.com

Kwalee Ltd. is a British video game developer and publisher. The company was founded in May 2011 by David Darling, co-founder and former CEO of Codemasters. The company publishes hypercasual games on mobile, PC, console, and mobile platforms. Based in Leamington Spa in the county of Warwickshire, Kwalee is one of the several companies that make up the Leamington Spa video gaming cluster. The name is Australian Aboriginal for “wait for me”, the name of a sailboat owned by Darling's grandfather.

As of 2022, the company also has offices in Bangalore, Beijing and Portugal. Kwalee employs over 180 people in its offices, including Andrew Graham (designer and programmer of Micro Machines) and COO Jason Falcus (programmer of NBA Jam).

History

In 2019, the company began to publish PC and console games with Max Everingham from Team17 through a new division. These games are published under the brand "Kwalee Gaming".

In 2018, Kwalee implemented a profit sharing scheme where employees would receive bonuses based on the success of their games; in February 2020, Kwalee claimed that £1 million in bonuses were paid.

In 2021, Kwalee donated their game Teacher Simulator's UK profits during the first week of the school term to FareShare, a charity that tackles child food poverty in the United Kingdom.

On 24 January 2022, Kwalee acquired the French studio Tictales, who published visual novel mobile games.

On 5 July 2024, Kwalee acquired a 3.58% minority share in Devolver Digital.

On 10 October 2024, Microids established a new third-party publishing division with Kwalee. The first published title under it was The Precinct.

Less than one month after the release of Luna Abyss (a AA shooter) in May 2026, the entire development team of Kwalee Labs was laid off. No reason was given to the public; in a personal LinkedIn post, CEO Hollie Emery stated that the decision was "completely outside of their control".

Published titles

Mobile games

Year Name Genre Platform
2024 Text Express: Word Adventure Puzzle iOS and Android
2023 Landlord Simulator Simulation iOS and Android
2022 Perfect Coffee 3D Simulation iOS and Android
2022 Airport Security Simulation iOS and Android
2020 Line Up: Draw the Criminal Simulation iOS and Android
2020 Hook and Smash Arcade iOS and Android
2020 Sneak Thief 3D Action iOS and Android
2020 Bake it Simulation iOS and Android
2020 OverTake Racing iOS and Android
2019 Off the Rails 3D Arcade iOS and Android
2019 Crazy Shopping Arcade iOS and Android
2019 Drop & Smash Arcade iOS and Android
2019 Rocket Sky! Arcade iOS and Android
2019 Shootout 3D Puzzle iOS and Android
2019 Jetpack Jump Sports iOS and Android
2019 Draw It Arcade iOS and Android
2018 Go Fish Sports iOS and Android
2018 PLANK! Arcade iOS and Android
2018 Looper! Music iOS and Android
2018 Skiddy Car Racing iOS and Android
2018 SPILLZ Puzzle iOS and Android
2017 TENS! Puzzle iOS and Android
2012 Farm Fighters Arcade iOS and Android
2012 Flip the Cats Puzzle iOS and Android
2012 Gobang Social Puzzle iOS and Android

PC & console games

Year Game Developers Platform
2020 TENS! Sock Monkey Studios PC, Nintendo Switch
Eternal Hope Doublehit Games PC
2022 Scathe DAMAGE STATE PC
2023 Die by the Blade Triple Hill Interactive, Toko Midori Games PC PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch
Wildmender Muse Games PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S
2024 Robobeat Inzanity PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch
Voidwrought PowerSnake PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch
In Sink Clock Out Games PC
The Spirit of the Samurai Digital Minds s.l. PC
2025 The Precinct Fallen Tree Games PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S
Space Chef Blue Goo Games PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch
Feign Teneke Kafalar PC
2026 Don't Stop, Girlypop! Funny Fintan Softworks PC
Hordes of Hunger Hyperstrange PC
The Coin Game devotid PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S
GRIME II Clover Bite PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S
Modulus: Factory Automation Happy Volcano PC
Ground Zero Malformation Games PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S
Call of the Elder Gods Out of the Blue Games PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2
Rune Dice Smart Raven Studio PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch
Luna Abyss Kwalee Labs PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S
Town to City Galaxy Grove PC
Shift at Midnight Bun Muen PC, Xbox Series X/S
lily's world XD Emily Pitcher PC
Talespinner Flash Cat Games PC, Nintendo Switch
Sprawl Zero Maeth PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2
Welcome to Elderfield Chris Cote PC
RetroSpace The Wild Gentlemen PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2
Afterbeat Vitamin Games PC
Lost Hellden Artisan Studios PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch
BPM Bitcrushed Awe Interactive PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch
Hark the Ghoul Deep Denizens PC
TBA Steam to Electric Galaxy Grove PC
Vampire: The Masquerade - Eternal Whispers Flyos PC

Awards

In 2012, Kwalee was named in the Startups 100 awards as one of the UK's most innovative, inspiring and ground-breaking new companies.

In 2019, its game Shootout 3D was awarded a TIGA award for 'Best Puzzle Game'.

In App Annie's Top Publisher Awards 2021, awarded based on overall mobile downloads throughout 2020, Kwalee was named the UK's biggest mobile game publisher by downloads and the UK's third highest-ranked app publisher overall behind the BBC and the NHS.

In 2021, Kwalee was nominated in the Best Publisher and Best Developer categories at the PocketGamer.biz Mobile Game Awards.

In 2022, the company won the title as Publisher of the Year at both the TIGA Games Industry Awards 2022 and the PocketGamer Mobile Game Awards 2022.

It was also named in the Top 50 Mobile Game Makers of 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024.

References

  1. ↑ "Leamington Festival Celebrates the Making of Silicon Spa". Warwickshire County Council. 14 May 2013.
  2. ↑ "Kwalee's David Darling on the new challenge of making games and apps for iOS | interview". PocketGamer.biz. 14 September 2011. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
  3. ↑ "About Kwalee". Kwalee.com. Archived from the original on 9 August 2026. Retrieved 9 August 2026.
  4. ↑ Kumar, Nitesh (19 May 2020). "Mobile games developer Kwalee to open first overseas studio in India". TechRadar. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  5. ↑ "Kwalee to open Chinese office". GamesIndustry.biz. 3 September 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  6. ↑ "Kwalee opens new office in Portugal". European Gaming. 12 May 2022. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
  7. ↑ Hughes, Ian (20 February 2020). "Million pound plus bonus payout for staff at Leamington firm". Leamington Observer.
  8. ↑ Crookes, David (26 August 2014). "Games Developers Jason Falcus and David Darling to Reunite at Kwalee". The Independent.
  9. ↑ Barton, Seth (29 January 2021). "Kwalee hires industry veteran Max Everingham from Team17 to lead console and PC publishing drive". MCV. ISSN 1469-4832. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  10. ↑ Pratt, Louron (25 February 2020). "Kwalee's profit sharing scheme has paid £1 million to 73 staff since 2018". Employee Benefits.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. ↑ Taylor, Haydn (27 February 2020). "Kwalee and the power of profit sharing". Gamesindustry.biz.
  12. ↑ "UK Game Developer Kwalee Pledging Profits From Hit Title 'Teacher Simulator' to Help Tackle Child Food Poverty". press.kwalee.com. 6 January 2021. Retrieved 26 October 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  13. ↑ Partis, Danielle (24 January 2022). "Kwalee acquires Tictales". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  14. ↑ McEvoy, Sophie (5 July 2024). "Kwalee makes minority investment in Devolver Digital". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
  15. ↑ Blake, Vikki (10 October 2024). "Microids launches new third-party publishing division with Kwalee collaboration". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
  16. ↑ Ruiz, Fran (17 June 2026). "Kwalee lays off the entire Luna Abyss development team as one of this year's overlooked bullet-hell games falls victim to an overcrowded release schedule". Eurogamer.
  17. ↑ "Startups 100 2012 - Kwalee". 8 July 2012. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
  18. ↑ "TIGA 2019 Winners". TIGA. Archived from the original on 8 November 2019.
  19. ↑ Staff, PocketGamer biz (8 July 2021). "The Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards 2021 finalists". pocketgamer.biz. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  20. ↑ Staff, PocketGamer biz (8 July 2021). "The Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards 2021 finalists". pocketgamer.biz. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  21. ↑ "Kwalee wins Publisher of the Year award at TIGA 2022 Game Industry awards". 11 November 2022. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
  22. ↑ "The Winners of 2022". Mobile Games Awards. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
  23. ↑ Staff, PocketGamer biz (6 September 2021). "The Top 50 Mobile Game Makers of 2021". pocketgamer.biz. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  24. ↑ "The Top 50 Mobile Game Makers of 2022". www.pocketgamer.biz. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
  25. ↑ "The Top 50 Mobile Game Makers of 2023". www.pocketgamer.biz. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
  26. ↑ "The Top 50 Mobile Game Makers of 2024". www.pocketgamer.biz. Retrieved 11 October 2024.