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Ustwo

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ustwo Fampany Limited
TypePrivate
IndustrySoftware development, video games, mobile apps
Founded15 November 2004; 21 years ago (2004-11-15)[1]
Founders
  • Matt Miller
  • John Sinclair
Headquarters
London
,
England
Area served
Worldwide
ProductsMonument Valley
Monument Valley 2
DICE
Number of employees
260[2] (2019)
Websiteustwo.com

Ustwo Fampany Limited (typically stylized as ustwo) is a London-based software development studio focused on digital design, such as clean and elegant user interfaces. Founded in 2004, the company helped clients by supporting their mobile apps and developed mobile games, but broke through with a video game, Monument Valley in 2014.

History

[edit]

Ustwo was founded by Matt "Mills" Miller and John "Sinx" Sinclair in the Shoreditch district of London in November 2004 as "Ustwo Studio, Ltd",[1] aiming to get into the nascent mobile app market.[3] Miller and Sinclair had been friends since they were eleven, and so the name "Ustwo" is in reference to their long-term relation, "us two".[4]

Miller and Sinclair had been working at a design firm called Big Animal who had Sony as a client, and after founding Ustwo they were hired by Sony Ericsson to help design a user interface. Additional work came from similar word-of-mouth for banking firm JPMorgan.[4]

They had limited success selling on Apple's App Store outside of one title, MouthOff (2009), which had a cartoon mouth on screen mimick mouth movements on hearing speech. The app earned Ustwo £100,000, in part due to reviews in Creative Review[5] and other publications, according to Miller.[6] MouthOff led to them gaining work from retail chain H&M.[4] They then developed Whale Trail in 2011, a children's game, which led to a deal with Penguin Group for an ebook and television series,[4] and Blip Blop in 2012.[3] [7]

Ustwo's breakout title came in 2014 with Monument Valley.[4][3] It was praised by critics and was named the Apple Store's Editors Choice,[8] later winning the Apple Design Award in 2014.[9] The game has since sold more than US$14 million in revenue from over 26 million copies sold.[10] Monument Valley 2 was a headline presentation at the 2017 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference,[11][12] and their next major title Assemble with Care was one of the premiere titles available on launch of Apple Arcade in September 2019.[13] Assemble with Care was later ported to Microsoft Windows and released on March 26, 2020.[14]

Ustwo renamed themselves as "Ustwo Fampany Ltd." in 2015,[1] with "fampany" representing their desire to have their studio to be a combination of "family" and "company".[4]

In 2019, Ustwo fired an employee for labour organizing at the company. The Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain, which represents him through Game Workers Unite UK, filed suit on the worker's behalf.[15] Lana Polansky of Waypoint criticized Ustwo for adopting progressive language and values to camouflage workplace issues and union busting activities.[16]

As of 2022, Ustwo had studios in Malmö, Lisbon, Tokyo, and New York in addition to the London headquarters, employing about 260 employees worldwide.[2]

Games developed

[edit]
Year Title Platform(s)
2011 Whale Trail Android, iOS
2012 Papa Quash iOS
2013 Blip Blup Android, iOS[17]
2014 Monument Valley Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows, Windows Phone
2015 Land's End Oculus Go, Samsung Gear VR[18]
2017 Monument Valley 2 Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows
2019 Assemble with Care iOS, Microsoft Windows
2019 Headed South Android[19]
2020 Go Go Bots Browser[20]
2020 Alba: A Wildlife Adventure iOS, macOS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, tvOS, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S
2022 Desta: The Memories Between Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch[21]
2024 Monument Valley 3 Android, macOS, iOS, iPadOS, visionOS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S[22] (Previously available on Netflix Games[23])

References

[edit]
  1. 1 2 3 "Ustwo Fampany Ltd". Companies House. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  2. 1 2 "ustwo's Global Digital Product and Service Studio Expands to Lisbon" (Press release). Ustwo. 25 March 2019. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 Dredge, Stewart (29 May 2015). "From MouthOff to Monument Valley: ustwo's path to apps fame". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 22 September 2019. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Spainer, Gideon (12 May 2014). "Growth Capital: Firm friendship and a passion for design is all ustwo needs". The Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 22 September 2019. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  5. ↑ Lucas, Gavin (5 July 2010). "The chaps for apps". Creative Review. Archived from the original on 22 September 2019. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  6. ↑ Miller, Matt (11 January 2010). "ustwo on how PR drove sales of its MouthOff app". Pocket Gamer.biz. Archived from the original on 22 September 2019. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  7. ↑ Long, Neil (29 July 2013). "Meet Ustwo, the digital design agency turned game developer". Edge. Archived from the original on 10 August 2013.
  8. ↑ Diver, Mike (13 May 2014). "Monument Valley creator Ustwo on App Store success and what comes next". Edge. Archived from the original on 14 May 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  9. ↑ Tach, Dave (3 June 2014). "Threes!, Monument Valley and more games win Apple Design Awards". Polygon. Archived from the original on 20 August 2019. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  10. ↑ Kerr, Chris (20 May 2016). "Monument Valley revenues top $14 million two years after launch". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 22 September 2019. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  11. ↑ Sulleyman, Aatif (5 June 2017). "Monument Valley 2 has just been revealed". The Independent. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
  12. ↑ Kim, Matt (5 June 2017). "Surprise! Monument Valley 2 is Available on iOS Devices Right Now". USGamer. Archived from the original on 4 October 2018. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
  13. ↑ Wilson, Mark (23 September 2019). "The creators of 'Monument Valley' are back with a game no one expected". Fast Company. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
  14. ↑ Wales, Matt (11 March 2020). "Monument Valley dev's restoration game Assemble With Care coming to PC". Eurogamer. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
  15. ↑ Taylor, Ivy (10 October 2019). "Ustwo Games accused of union busting". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
  16. ↑ Polansky, Lana (4 September 2020). "How Games, Tech, and the Army Use Progressive Language as a Smoke Screen". Waypoint. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
  17. ↑ Lomas, Natasha (23 May 2013). "Blip Blup Is A Minimalist Mobile Puzzle Game That Lets You Play With Pulses Of Light". TechCrunch. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  18. ↑ Souppouris, Aaron (21 September 2015). "The 'Monument Valley' team has created a dream of a VR game". Engadget. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  19. ↑ Bradshaw, Kyle (19 October 2019). "Monument Valley's ustwo creates 'Headed South' for Pixel 4". 9to5Google. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  20. ↑ Takahashi, Dean (28 May 2020). "Monument Valley maker Ustwo launches Go Go Bots instant game on Facebook". VentureBeat. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  21. ↑ Tomas, Franzese (30 September 2022). "The best games of September 2022: The Last of Us, Splatoon 3, and more". Digital Trends. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  22. ↑ Kaser, Rachel (7 June 2025). "Monument Valley 3 launches on console and PC on July 22". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on 8 June 2025. Retrieved 8 June 2025.
  23. ↑ Griffin, Marc (25 June 2025). "This is your last chance to play Hades, Monument Valley and more free games with your Netflix subscription". Polygon. Archived from the original on 23 July 2025. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
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