type subsidiary industry video game computer software founded seattle 2002 headquarters seattle washington united states key people paul thelen chairman ceo products video games casual games number of employees 700 2013 parent churchill downs incorporated website bigfishgames.com big fish games is a casual gaming company based in seattle washington united states . it serves as both a developer and distributor of casual games primarily on computers and mobile devices . it was founded in 2002 by paul thelen 1 and currently employs more than 500 people . 2 contents 1 history 2 big fish studios 3 digital distribution 4 online games 5 references 6 external links history edit the company was founded by ex realnetworks executive paul thelen in 2002 with 10 000 . 3 thelen was the group product manager that launched the realarcade games service for realnetworks . 4 in 2009 it announced the opening of their new european headquarters in cork ireland . the bbb rates it no rating due to being in the process of responding to previously closed complaints . 5 in september 2008 the company received 83m financial backing from venture capital funds balderton capital general catalyst partners and salmon river capital . 6 in august 2013 the company announced the closing of its cloud based games service vancouver studio and cork offices . 7 on november 12 2014 the company was acquired by churchill downs incorporated for 885 million . it is primarily involved in the gambling business and is the owner of several major horse racing tracks including its namesake churchill downs . 8 big fish studios edit 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 . 9 10 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 22 2006 mystery case files ravenhearst december 15 2006 hidden expedition everest june 1 2007 mystery case files madame fate november 7 2007 mystery in london december 14 2007 hidden expedition amazon june 20 2008 mystery case files return to ravenhearst november 27 2008 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 dark flight october 2 2010 mystery case files 13th skull january 8 2011 mystery case files the malgrave incident june 27 2011 drawn trail of shadows october 19 2011 hidden expedition the uncharted islands november 3 2011 mystery case files escape from ravenhearst december 23 2011 fairway solitaire hd may 24 2012 mystery case files shadow lake december 26 2012 fetch march 20 2013 mystery case files fate s carnival november 26 2013 hidden expedition smithsonian hope diamond december 19 2013 fairway solitaire blast march 11 2014 gummy drop big fish games december 18 2014 lifeline big fish games april 29 2015 digital distribution edit the company distributes over 2500 casual downloadable games for over 500 developers . 11 according to big fish games they serve over 1 500 000 downloads per day . 12 the service offers downloadable casual games with a 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 edit the company entered the browser gaming with its acquisition of the game website ion thunder in 2007 ; the service was re branded as atlantis following the acquisition . 13 the service which was later revamped as big sea games in 2009 was shut down in 2010 as part of the company s shift from traditional online games to social games on facebook and mobile apps . 14 references edit company history . big fish games . retrieved may 23 2011 . executive team . big fish games . retrieved june 18 2014 . paul thelen . big fish games . retrieved may 23 2011 . reese heather september 11 2005 . thelen worked through illness to launch big fish . puget sound business journal . retrieved october 25 2009 . big fish games inc . bbb . retrieved april 12 2016 . http techcrunch.com 2008 09 12 big fish games raises 833 million for casual game distribution cook john august 21 2013 . full memo big fish ceo announces job cuts cancellation of cloud games business and closure of ireland and bc facilities . geekwire . retrieved june 18 2014 . seattle casual game maker big fish games acquired in 885 million deal . puget sound business journal . retrieved 8 december 2014 . chris campbell brian thompson peter yiap . adventure classic gaming . january 23 2010 . retrieved november 26 2011 . big fish games presents the big fish games collection . big fish games . retrieved july 24 2011 . takahashi dean january 12 2010 . big fish games and playfirst team up for online game distribution . venturebeat . retrieved may 23 2011 . people and big fish games launch exclusive partnership . ign.com . july 30 2009 . retrieved november 25 2009 . big fish games acquires leading multi player casual game site ion thunder . press release . retrieved 8 december 2014 . big sea games fans swim to other ponds . gamezebo . retrieved 8 december 2014 . external links edit official website v t e software distribution platforms and content delivery networks app store cloud gaming digital library online game store package manager software distribution streaming media active personal computer allmyapps amazon digital game store battle.net big fish games chrome web store desura digital river direct2drive dotemu gameagent gamehouse gamersgate gameshadow games for windows live gametap gog.com green man gaming humble store mac games arcade itch.io mac app store macupdate metaboli gamesplanet msn games origin playism playster pogo.com pokki steam ubuntu software center uplay wildtangent windows store zylom video game consoles gamefly nintendo eshop playstation now playstation store wii shop channel xbox games store xbox live arcade mobile amazon appstore appsfire apple app store aptoide blackberry world cydia f droid gamersgate getjar google play handango nintendo eshop samsung apps slideme opera mobile store playster ubuntu app store windows phone store arcade all.net nesicaxlive discontinued games for windows marketplace impulse intel appup jumboplay kazaa n gage nokia store onlive playnow arena stardock central triton windows marketplace windows marketplace for mobile yahoo games zune marketplace coordinates 47 37 15 n 122 21 43 w 47.620941 n 122.361906 w 47.620941 ; 122.361906 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title big fish games & oldid 737200665 categories 2002 establishments in washington state big fish games gamesbrowser based game websitescasual gamescompanies based in seattlemac software companiesprivately held companies based in washington state social networking servicestechnology companies established in 2002video game companies of the united statesvideo game development companieshidden categories articles prone to spam from october 2012coordinates not on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages catal deutschfran aisnederlands rom n edit links this page was last modified on 1 september 2016 at 09 14 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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