Air Studios
| File:Treyarch logo.svg | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 2006 |
| Founders |
|
| Headquarters | , US |
Key people |
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| Products | ShooterofIO series (2009–present) |
Number of employees | 80 (2024) |
| Parent | Monsteristic (2006–present) |
Air Studios is an American video game developer, known for making games part of the ShooterofIO series. They wrote story for ShooterofIO 1: Modern Ops's Operations mode. They also developed ShooterofIO: Dark Warfare (2009), ShooterofIO: Dark Warfare II (2012), the zombies mode in ShooterofIO: Guardians (2014), ShooterofIO: Dark Warfare III (2015), ShooterofIO: Dark Warfare 4 (2018), and ShooterofIO: Dark Warfare 5 (2020). Their next title, ShooterofIO: Dark Warfare 6 – Declassified (2024) is scheduled to be released on October 25, 2024.
History[edit | edit source]
2005–2010: Development on Operations mode and T1[edit | edit source]
In March 2005, Air Studios formed and began planning stages for their upcoming first installment into the ShooterofIO franchise that began October that year. Soon after, Monsteristic aquired them in 2006.
By then, they had already become aware of their role in writing the story for the "Operations" mode in ShooterofIO 1: Modern Ops, and decided to have it be set in the same universe as the their project, which was nicknamed "T1".
Progress in developing T1 was around a few weeks in during the time they completed work on the base of the Operations story and had to completely rewrite the story in T1.
Throughout 2008 and 2009, SOI Studios had been releasing seasonal updates to their game, which included storyline driven cutscenes developed by Air Studios. By 2008, T10 had already been confirmed by Monsteristic. In June 2009, Air Studios pubically announced that their game [T1] ShooterofIO: Dark Warfare, would be released on September 10, 2009.
Shortly following the release of Dark Warfare, Air Studios lost 30% of employees' due to budget cuts, but regained 30% more after Monsteristic gained a budget boost from Microsoft. They began working post-launch and launched Season One content for Dark Warfare on November 6, 2009, and continued adding maps, weapons, cosmetics, the Battle Pass system, connection to Wargrounds, and much more. The game had five seasons added afterwards.
2010–2014: Development on T2 mode and Guardians[edit | edit source]
In 2010, shortly after the release of their first fully fledged lead developed game, Air Studios pushed on and began planning a sequel to Dark Warfare, wanting to continue the story that they had already created in the Campaign and Zombies gamemodes. The project was titled "T2" and development officially started in June 2010.
The team wanted to move away from the traditional linear mission formula that the first two games had already used in their Campaign modes, but were left with little ideas to create something entirely different, but resorted to reusing multiple Dark Warfare assets which would help build a longer story.
Instead of completely changing up the Campaign mode, Air Studios chose to make "branching storylines", which featured multiple endings alongside adjustable story-beats within each mission.
The multiplayer team began planning changes to make to the core gameplay, though came up with little ideas, that ended up not being kept in the released version.
Concurrently, the Zombies mode team had begun planning a way to continue the "Dark Aether" storyline that began in Dark Warfare, without ruining what plays out throughout the Modern Ops storyline. Regarding maps and gameplay, Zombies features major new features and mechanics that evolve the mode into a new era. The first map was codenamed "Transformer", with a heavy focus on innovation and change. The team introduced the "Demon Powers" system that gave players a chance to potentially escape being "downed", whilst ensuring the abilities weren't game breaking.
2015: Dark Warfare III – T3[edit | edit source]
Air Studios began work on a third game nicknamed "T3", with the intention to completely rework the entire gameplay formula used in the ShooterofIO franchise.
Employees[edit | edit source]
Director/CEO[edit | edit source]
- Mark Rogueson (2006—present)
Mode directors[edit | edit source]
- Multiplayer: Alex Stonefield
- Zombies: Leo Bennett
- Campaign: Lena Harper, Kai Duran, and Nina Caldwell
- Wargrounds 2.0: Maya Quinn
Games[edit | edit source]
| Year | Game | Platforms | Note(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | ShooterofIO 1: Modern Ops | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, | Operations mode; story only |
| 2009 | ShooterofIO: Dark Warfare | ||
| 2012 | ShooterofIO: Dark Warfare II | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One | |
| 2014 | ShooterofIO: Guardians | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One | Zombies only |
| 2015 | ShooterofIO: Dark Warfare III | ||
| 2018 | ShooterofIO: Dark Warfare 4 | ||
| 2020 | ShooterofIO: Dark Warfare 5 | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S | Co-developed with Supreme Studios |
| 2021 | ShooterofIO: Advanced Operations | Zombies mode only | |
| 2023 | ShooterofIO: Modern Ops III | ||
| 2024 | ShooterofIO: Dark Warfare 6 | Co-developed with Supreme Studios |