Underground Development

Moby ID: 704

AKA +
  • Z-Axis, Ltd. (from 1994 to 2008-02)

Overview edit · view history

The company was founded as Z-Axis by David Luntz in 1994. Its first major project was John Madden NFL Football '96 for the SEGA Genesis, which was a best seller, and they created several other sports games afterwards. Z-Axis also provided motion capture services to game developers and publishers.

They were located in Hayward until acquired by Activision in May of 2002. They moved their offices to Foster City, California.

In February 2008, the company's name was changed to Underground Development. In April 2008, only two months later, Activision announced to close down the studio near the end of May 2008. Under the new name, the division only worked on the PlayStation 3 version of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars as well as the multiplayer component of Wolfenstein.

Credited on 17 Games from 1995 to 2009

Guitar Hero: Van Halen (2009 on PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3...)
Wolfenstein (2009 on Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3)
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008 on Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360...)
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (2007 on Linux, Windows, Xbox 360...)
X-Men: The Official Game (2006 on Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox...)
True Crime: New York City (2005 on Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox...)
BMX XXX (NSFW) (2002 on PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube)
Aggressive Inline (2002 on PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube)
Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 (2001 on PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube)
Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX: Maximum Remix (2001 on PlayStation)
Freestyle Motocross: McGrath vs. Pastrana (2000 on PlayStation)
Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX (2000 on Windows, PlayStation, Dreamcast)
Thrasher Presents Skate and Destroy (1999 on PlayStation)
Space Invaders (1999 on Windows, PlayStation, Nintendo 64...)
Fox Sports College Hoops '99 (1998 on Nintendo 64)
Alexi Lalas International Soccer (1998 on Windows, PlayStation)
Madden NFL 96 (1995 on SNES, Genesis)

History +

April 2008

Activision announces to close the studio near the end of May 2008.

February 2008

The company's name is changed to Underground Development.

February 10, 2005

To expand the company, the headquarters are moved from Hayward, CA to Bayside Towers, Foster City, CA.

May 22, 2002

Z-Axis, Ltd. is acquired by Activision.

1994

Company founded as Z-Axis, Ltd.

Trivia +

Cancelled games

The company had two PlayStation games in development that were cancelled. They were Rollerball and Dan O'Brien Decathalon.

Related Web Sites +

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