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'{{Infobox company | company_name = Big Fish Games, Inc. | company_logo = [[Image:Big Fish Games logo.png|200px|Big Fish Games]] | company_type = [[Privately held company|Private]] | foundation = [[Seattle]] (2002) | location = [[Seattle]], [[Washington (U.S. state)|Washington]], United States | key_people = [[Paul Thelen]], [[Chairman]]/[[President|CEO]] | industry = [[Video game industry|Video game]]<br>[[Computer software]] | products = [[Video games]] ([[Casual games]]) | num_employees = 400 (2009) | homepage = [http://www.bigfishgames.com/ bigfishgames.com] }} '''Big Fish Games''' is a provider of [[Internet]] [[mass media|media]] delivery software and game services based in [[Seattle]], [[Washington (U.S. state)|Washington]]. The company was founded in 2002 by Paul Thelen,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pressroom.bigfishgames.com/about_history.asp |title=Big Fish Games Press Room |publisher=Big Fish Games|date=unknown |accessdate=2011-05-23}}</ref> and currently employs more than 600 people. Most of Big Fish Games' titles can be played for free in trial form, with the full version available for a fee. Big Fish Games has several lines of business including distribution of downloadable casual games, free online [[Browser-based games|browser games]], [[game development]] and game licensing, and most recently a [[social networking]] site for casual game players to share opinions and information about games. == History == Big Fish Games was founded by ex-[[RealNetworks]] executive [[Paul Thelen]] in 2002 with $10,000.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pressroom.bigfishgames.com/about_execs.asp|title=Big Fish Games Press Room|publisher=Big Fish Games |date=unknown |accessdate=2011-05-23}}</ref> Thelen was the Group Product Manager that launched the [[RealArcade]] games service for RealNetworks.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://seattle.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2005/09/12/focus4.html |title=Thelen Worked Through Illness to Launch Big Fish |publisher=Puget Sound Business Journal|date=2005-09-09 |accessdate=2009-10-25 |first=Heather |last=Reese}}</ref> In 2009, the company announced the opening of their new European headquarters in Cork, Ireland. The BBB rates Big Fish Games as an A+ due to its response and resolution to complaints, and the relative low complaint volume for a business of its size.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.bbb.org/western-washington/business-reviews/games-and-supplies/big-fish-games-in-seattle-wa-39000589#reasonrating}}</ref> == Big Fish Studios == Big Fish Studios is the internal development studio that publishes original titles every year through Big Fish Games. Many of these games are developed using its own proprietary game engine that supports both DirectX and OpenGL.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.adventureclassicgaming.com/index.php/site/interviews/537/|title=Chris Campbell, Brian Thompson, Peter Yiap interview|publisher=Adventure Classic Gaming |date=2010-01-23 |accessdate=2011-11-26}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bigfishgames.com/download-games/developers/149/index.html|title=Big Fish Games presents the Big Fish Games collection|publisher=Big Fish Games |date=2011-07-24|accessdate=2011-07-24}}</ref> Games developed by Big Fish Studios include: * ''[[Mystery Case Files: Huntsville]]'' (November 14, 2005) * ''[[Mystery Case Files: Prime Suspects]]'' (April 6, 2006) * ''[[Mystic Inn]]'' (April 12, 2006) * ''[[Hidden Expedition: Titanic]]'' (July 21, 2006) * ''[[Mystery Case Files: Ravenhearst]]'' (December 14, 2006) * ''[[Hidden Expedition: Everest]]'' (June 1, 2007) * ''[[Mystery Case Files: Madame Fate]]'' (November 6, 2007) * ''[[Mystery in London]]'' (December 14, 2007) * ''[[Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst]]'' (November 27, 2008) * ''[[Hidden Expedition: Amazon]]'' (June 20, 2008) * ''[[Drawn (series)|Drawn: The Painted Tower]]'' (September 5, 2009) * ''[[Hidden Expedition: Devil's Triangle]]'' (October 24, 2009) * ''[[Mystery Case Files: Dire Grove]]'' (November 25, 2009) * ''[[Life Quest]]'' (April 29, 2010) * ''[[Drawn (series)|Drawn: Dark Flight]]'' (August 31, 2010) * ''[[Mystery Case Files: 13th Skull]]'' (November 25, 2010) * ''[[Mystery Case Files: The Malgrave Incident]]'' (June 29, 2011) * ''[[Drawn (series)|Drawn: Trail of Shadows]]'' (October 21, 2011) * ''[[Hidden Expedition - The Uncharted Islands]]'' (October 28, 2011) * ''[[Mystery Case Files: Escape from Ravenhearst]]'' (November 24, 2011) * ''[[Fairway Solitaire|Fairway Solitaire HD]]'' (May 24, 2012) == Digital distribution == Big Fish Games distributes over 2500 casual downloadable games for over 500 developers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://venturebeat.com/2010/01/12/big-fish-and-playfirst-team-up-in-online-game-distribution-deal/|title=Big Fish Games and PlayFirst team up for online game distribution|publisher=VentureBeat |date=2010-01-12 |accessdate=2011-05-23 |first=Dean |last=Takahashi}}</ref> According to Big Fish Games, the company serves over 1,500,000 downloads per day.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://games.ign.com/articles/100/1009221p1.html |title=People and Big Fish Games Launch Exclusive Partnership |publisher=IGN.com |date=2009-07-30 |accessdate=2009-10-25}}</ref> The service offers downloadable [[casual games]] with a [[try before you buy|try-before-you-buy]] model where consumers can play games for free for 60 minutes, then have the option to purchase that game to keep playing. == Online games == Big Fish Games used to distribute online web [[Browser-based games|browser games]] that were free to play and advertising supported. There were over 80 games to play. The games all included chat and players earned tokens that could be used to enter lotteries to win cash prizes and free games. Just over 20 of Big Fish Games community games were ported to [http://www.bigseagames.com Big Sea Games], a sister site that was free to play with no advertising. It was announced that Big Sea Games would be closed on 1 September 2010 after just over a year. [http://forums.bigseagames.com/posts/list/5675.page] Big Fish Games also operated the highly popular on-line game Faunasphere, accessible both from its own site and through Facebook. It was announced on 15 February 2011 that the Faunasphere would be shutting down on 15 March. Con Company BE Warned! == Club membership == Big Fish Games operates a Game Club subscription that is optionally activated when a customer purchases one of their full-version games. The subscription is billed as a monthly charge, and can be canceled at any time. == References == {{reflist|30em}} == External links == <!-- Please see the article talk page before adding links to this section. --> * {{Official website|http://BigFishGames.Com}} {{Prone to spam|date=October 2012}} {{Z148}}<!-- {{No more links}} Please be cautious adding more external links. Wikipedia is not a collection of links and should not be used for advertising. Excessive or inappropriate links will be removed. See [[Wikipedia:External links]] and [[Wikipedia:Spam]] for details. If there are already suitable links, propose additions or replacements on the article's talk page, or submit your link to the relevant category at the Open Directory Project (dmoz.org) and link there using {{Dmoz}}. --> {{Coord|47.620941|N|122.361906|W|display=t}} [[Category:Mac software companies]] [[Category:Companies based in Seattle, Washington]] [[Category:Companies established in 2002]] [[Category:Video game companies of the United States]] [[Category:Video game development companies]] [[Category:Social networking services]] [[Category:Casual games]] [[Category:Big Fish Games games]] [[Category:Browser-based game websites]] [[Category:Privately held companies based in Washington (state)]] [[ca:Big Fish Games]] [[fr:Big Fish Games]] [[nl:Big Fish Games]] [[ja:ビッグ フィッシュ ゲームズ]] [[ro:Big Fish Games]]'