Frontier Developments

Based in Cambridge, UK, Frontier is one of the gaming industry's leading independent developers, having built upon the work of founder David Braben. After establishing a reputation for creating original game designs that go on to achieve commercial success, Frontier’s mission is to revolutionise perceptions of what gaming is about by using innovative technical and artistic approaches on the leading gaming platforms. This is reflected in their current project, Dog’s Life, an innovative action-adventure game that allows players to experience life from a dog’s perspective.

Frontier was incorporated as a limited company in January 1994, but Braben’s work began much earlier, when he wrote the seminal game “Elite” together with Ian Bell while both were still at University. As the first 3D game on a home computer and the first game to utilise save positions, “Elite” broke new boundaries. It is viewed by many as one of the best computer games of all time, and still ranks highly in polls after nearly twenty years.

“Zarch” and "Virus" continued the legacy of innovation by incorporating real-time lighting and shadowing for the first time in a game. Following the success of these titles, "Frontier: Elite II" was released to critical and commercial acclaim, and also had many ‘firsts’ attached to its name, including the achievement of being the first game to use curved surfaces. It remained at the top end of the charts for most of the following year. Also the first official release from Frontier Developments – and the inspiration for the company’s name – "Frontier: Elite II" went on to become the best-selling home computer game of 1993 in Europe.

Frontier Developments went on to produce its own games development tools – the first game to benefit from these was “V2000”, a sequel to “Virus”, which launched to critical acclaim in October 1998 and received a nomination for best game in the inaugural BAFTA awards.

Frontier continues to develop innovative games for popular games platforms, including consoles and mobile devices such as PDAs and phones, recently receiving “Best Games and Entertainment Application for Pocket PC” from Microsoft in March 2003 for their game “Darxide EMP”.

Frontier continues to create innovative stand-out games so believable they immerse the player completely. The fusion of cutting-edge art and technology skills with unique gaming heritage is clearly demonstrated in “Dog’s Life”.

Software Highlights from Credited Titles

Frontier Developments's first work that SPOnG is aware of is the 1991 title, "Elite Plus" (PC).

The company has been involved titles released on the PS4, Xbox One, PC, Wii, PS3, Xbox 360, DS/DSi, PS2, PSP, Xbox, GameCube, PlayStation and Amiga. Of these, "Rollercoaster Tycoon 3" (PC), "Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 Deluxe Edition" (PC), "Jurassic World Evolution" (PS4), "Kinect Disneyland Adventures" (Xbox 360) and "Jurassic World Evolution" (Xbox One) have been best selling titles.

The company's most recent involvement was on the 2018 release "Zoo Tycoon: Ultimate Animal Collection" (PC).

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