HB Studios

HB Studios was founded in 2000 by Jeremy Wellard in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. The company started with nine employees, and developed Cricket 2002 for Electronic Arts' Asia Pacific studio.[1]

In 2004, HB Studios entered a multi-project deal with EA Canada to continue developing sports games for the EA Sports label, including further games in the Rugby and Cricket series, FIFA Street 2 for the PlayStation Portable as well as co-development on Madden 07 for the Wii. This exclusivity deal ended in 2007,[2] after which the company was hired by THQ to create Big Beach Sports for the Wii. This was HB Studios' first non-sports simulation game as well as the first game not developed for the EA Sports label. HB Studios continued developing EA Sports games for Windows, PlayStation 2, Wii and mobile/handheld platforms until 2012.

In 2008, HB Studios opened a second studio in Halifax, Nova Scotia as well as now operating with 130 employees.[3] The Halifax studio was closed at the end of July 2012 with all development moved to their headquarters in Lunenberg. The last games developed by the satellite studio were NBA Baller Beats for Kinect and Medal Bound on iOS.[4]

A second label, HB Arcade, was formed in 2009, with the goal of self-publishing downloadable titles on WiiWare, PSN and Xbox Live Arcade. Games released under this label included HB Arcade Cards and HB Arcade Disc Golf, both for the WiiWare platform, as well as Jam Space for DSiWare.[5]

In 2011, HB Studios developed Rugby World Cup 2011, a self-funded title published by 505 Games.[6] It was well-received, and entered the UK charts at No.3.[7]

In January 2014, it was announced that HB's The Golf Club for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC would be launching in the Spring of 2014.[8] The game is a golf simulator that includes a Course Creator using procedural generation, allowing users to create, edit and share courses online. The game went to Steam Early Access in April 2014 and was fully released in August 2014.

In February 2015, HB Studios' founder, Jeremy Wellard, announced he was stepping down as President of the company with COO Alan Bunker announced as his replacement.[9]

In March 2016, HB Studios and Maximum Games announced a joint venture to release Mark McMorris Infinite Air, an open-world, physics-based snowboarding video game. The game was built in partnership and close collaboration with multiple X-Games winner Mark McMorris, who was also the cover athlete for the title. It was released on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC in October 2016.[10] The release of their VR title, The Golf Club VR was released in February 2017 and released their next golf title, The Golf Club 2, in June 2017.

In August 2018, 2K Sports took over the publishing of The Golf Club 2019 featuring PGA Tour which was released digitally on August 28, 2018 with physical versions to be released in the fall of that year[11]

In November 2019, saw the departure of CEO Alan Bunker from the company. James Seaboyer, long time Executive/Senior producer at HB Studios, steps into the role of CEO. Dave McFarland, previously Technical Director, moves into the new CTO role. Craig Heffler remains CFO of the company.[12]

In August 2020, PGA Tour 2K21 was released on August 21 for the PS4, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch and Stadia platforms. There is a focused on its licensing agreements – with the PGA TOUR, with tournament sponsors, with a list of PGA pros,[13] with real-world courses,[14] and with equipment and apparel manufacturers.[15] The game continues to feature a course designer that allows players to build and share their created courses.[16]

• Official website
• HB Studios' profile at MobyGames