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Techland

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Techland S.A.
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
Founded1991; 33 years ago (1991)
FounderPaweł Marchewka
HeadquartersWrocław, Poland
Number of locations
3 (2016)
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
  • Paweł Marchewka (CEO)
  • Adrian Ciszewski (CCO)
  • Oleg Klapovskiy (CPO)
  • Karol Bach (COO & CFO)
Products
Revenue182.7M PLN (2018)
Total equity101M PLN (2018)
Number of employees
126 (2024)
ParentTencent (majority stake, 2024–present)
Websitetechland.net

Techland S.A. is a Polish video game developer and publisher founded in 1991 by Paweł Marchewka. It developed Call of Juarez (2006) and its prequel Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood (2009), as well as Dead Island (2011) and Dying Light (2015).[1] The company is headquartered in Wrocław in western Poland and has offices in Wrocław and Warsaw.[2]

History

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The company was founded in 1991 by Paweł Marchewka. Marchewka, born in 1973 in Ostrów Wielkopolski, displayed an interest in video games since his early childhood.[3] In his final years of high school, together with his friends, he started distributing video games to different shops across Poland.

The endeavour was successful enough that, in 1991, when Poland introduced changes to its intellectual property laws, he pivoted to officially founding Techland.[4] Initially, the company focused on translating foreign programs and publishing them on the Polish market. In 1993, Techland began producing its own software: Dictionaries, translators, computer-games.[5]

Techland started as a distributor of computer software and created Prawo Krwi, the first game developed in-house, in 1995. Techland released the sci-fi-themed first-person-shooter Chrome in 2003. A prequel titled Chrome: Specforce was released in 2005. Techland has also developed driving games including rally simulation games Xpand Rally and Xpand Rally Xtreme and Volkswagen-licensed GTI-Racing (2006). [citation needed]

In 2011, Techland released open world survival horror game Dead Island. Its sequel, Dead Island: Riptide appeared in 2013. In August 2013, the company launched a branch in Vancouver, Canada, under the name Digital Scapes Studios.[6]

In 2015, Techland released Dying Light, a first-person survival horror game for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows. An expansion for the game, Dying Light: The Following, was released in 2016. Techland's first title as a game publisher was Torment: Tides of Numenera, released in 2017.[7] In 2018, Call of Juarez: The Cartel and Call of Juarez: Gunslinger were both delisted from Steam, Xbox Live, and PlayStation Network citing a publishing dispute with Ubisoft.[8][9] Call of Juarez: Gunslinger returned to those storefronts in April 2018 with Techland as the sole publisher.[10][11]

In July 2021 Techland sold Digital Scapes Studios to CD Projekt, another Polish developer, who proceeded to rename it to CD Projekt Red Vancouver.[12] They also celebrated the company's 30th anniversary that December with a series of discounts for its clients.[13] In 2022, Techland released the open world survival horror game Dying Light 2: Stay Human, a sequel to Dying Light.

In July 2023, Tencent announced that it would become the company's majority shareholder.[14] Despite acquiring a 67% stake in the company for a reported US$1.6 billion, the Polish developer is to maintain creative independence and control over its brands.[15]

On January 10, 2024, it was reported that Tencent had completed the acquisition of a controlling stake in Techland.[16]

Technology

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Main article: Chrome Engine

Techland's proprietary Chrome Engine of 2003 has been developed further. ChromeEngine 4 was completed in 2006 and provided support for the PlayStation 3. [citation needed] Techland is using its own engine, known as C-Engine. Previously, Techland's engine was called Chrome Engine, but the C-Engine technology is all new.[17] According to the lead designer of the company, Tymon Smektała: “we agreed that this is what we want to do and we want to create games with highly detailed graphics so that you can truly immerse yourself in this world. We knew that to achieve this, we had to create a new engine, a new technology”.[18]

One of the main advantage of the technology is said to be the best possible support of ray tracing (and NVIDIA DLSS) and better use of multi-core processors.[19]

Games

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Main article: List of Techland video games

Upcoming Projects

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Techland is currently involved in multiple projects, including the development of a highly anticipated AAA open-world fantasy RPG, which the studio has described as its biggest project to date. In addition to this, Techland is also working on another mysterious title. Furthermore, the studio continues to provide ongoing post-launch support for Dying Light 2, ensuring a steady stream of updates and content for the game.[20]

References

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  1. ^ Adams, Dan (11 May 2006). "E3 2006: Dead Island". IGN. Ziff Davis, LLC. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  2. ^ "About". Techland. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
  3. ^ "Paweł Marchewka". finanse.wp.pl (in Polish). 7 August 2017. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  4. ^ "Paweł Marchewka". www.forbes.pl. 23 February 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  5. ^ "Polski Techland zdobywa zagraniczne rynki. Oto historia producenta gry "Dead Island"". forsal.pl (in Polish). 26 October 2013. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  6. ^ "Techland opens Vancouver studio to work on Dying Light". Polygon. 16 August 2013. Archived from the original on 31 December 2013. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  7. ^ Parfitt, Ben (10 June 2016). "Techland's first published game is inXile's Torment: Tides of Numenera". MCV. Newbay. Archived from the original on 24 June 2017. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  8. ^ Boudreau, Ian (31 March 2018). "Call of Juarez Gunslinger delisted from Steam". PCGamesN. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  9. ^ Vazquez, Suriel (31 March 2018). "Call Of Juarez: Gunslinger Delisted From Some Major Online Storefronts". Game Informer. GameStop. Archived from the original on 2 November 2017. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  10. ^ Greenbaum, Aaron (13 April 2018). "Don't Panic, Call of Juarez Gunslinger Isn't Gone; It Just Changed Publishers". Twinfinite. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  11. ^ Roemer, Dan (30 April 2018). "The Call of Juarez series has a new publisher through Techland". Destructoid. Archived from the original on 16 August 2018. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  12. ^ "CD PROJEKT acquires the Canadian Digital Scapes development studio". www.cdprojekt.com/. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
  13. ^ "Celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Techland with us and a giveaway of Crime Cities!". GOG.com. 2 December 2021. Retrieved 16 June 2022.
  14. ^ Lyles, Taylor (24 July 2023). "Tencent Buys Dying Light Developer Techland". IGN. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  15. ^ Maciej Graffke (11 January 2024). "Tencent's Acquisition of Techland the Biggest Deal of 2023 in Poland. We Know the Estimated Price". gamepressure.com. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  16. ^ "Tencent completes majority ownership of Dying Light dev Techland". Game Developer. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
  17. ^ "Engine, świat i fabuła Dying Light 2 – wywiad z Tymonem Smektałą ze studia Techland | GRYOnline.pl". GRY-Online.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 16 June 2022.
  18. ^ "Engine, świat i fabuła Dying Light 2 – wywiad z Tymonem Smektałą ze studia Techland | GRYOnline.pl". GRY-Online.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 16 June 2022.
  19. ^ "Dying Light 2 od strony technicznej. Gra ma mieć ogromną mapę i zaoferuje główny wątek fabularny na 20 godzin". PurePC.pl (in Polish). 1 April 2021. Retrieved 16 June 2022.
  20. ^ "Techland's Biggest Project". Techtroduce. 4 September 2024. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
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