logo turtle rock studios type private industry computer and video games interactive entertainment founded march 2002 founder michael booth phil robb chris ashton headquarters lake forest california us products counter strike series left 4 dead evolve parent independent 2002 2008 2009 present valve corporation 2008 2009 subsidiaries turtle rock garage website www.turtlerockstudios.com turtle rock studios is an american video game developer founded in march 2002 by michael booth . 1 it was acquired by valve corporation in 2008 but was re founded in 2011 as an independent company by phil robb and chris ashton . turtle rock studios is involved in the creation of original titles as well as the provision of consulting services to the digital entertainment industry . the company s most notable games are the first left 4 dead which was published by valve and evolve which was originally set to be published by thq but was later published by 2k games . the founder of the company had worked for westwood pacific and assisted in the development of the counter strike series . the company expanded from six employees to more than seventy staff members in 2011 to 2014 and opened a subsidiary company called turtle rock garage in 2011 which specialized in developing casual games . contents 1 history 1.1 prior to founding 1.2 turtle rock 1.0 1.3 valve south 1.4 turtle rock 2.0 1.5 future 2 list of games 2.1 left 4 dead 2.2 evolve 3 philosophy 4 references 5 external links history edit prior to founding edit turtle rock studios was initially founded by michael booth . prior to the company s establishment booth phil robb and chris ashton worked for westwood pacific 2 and participated in the development of real time strategy games like command & conquer red alert . ashton who had also worked for presto studios 3 was impressed by counter strike which was a popular mod of half life and decided to join the mod team as a texture artist . eventually seattle based valve corporation the publisher of half life purchased the mod and ashton left westwood to join valve . robb and booth remained at westwood studios and worked on command & conquer yuri s revenge and command & conquer generals but left the company after it was acquired by electronic arts as robb considered ea s acquisition of westwood had resulted in the studio losing all its personality . 4 turtle rock 1.0 edit phil robb co founder of turtle rock . turtle rock studios was officially founded in 2002 . 5 the team of about six people had limited resources so set up work space in booth s garage . the name turtle rock derived from the name of a neighbourhood where booth lived . 4 6 the team eventually expanded the studio and rented an office and continued the development of condition zero . the game was officially released in 2004 . satisfied with the work done by turtle rock valve continued to contract them to work on the xbox version of counter strike as well as the next installment of the series counter strike source 4 and half life 2 deathmatch . 7 upon the release of source the company wanted to work on a new game and gained support from valve . 4 the team later chose to design a first person wizard combat game . 2 4 as the team had developed only competitive multiplayer games before they wanted to design a game that encouraged and supported co operative gameplay between players ; a game that would allow family and friends to play together instead of against each other citing secret of mana as an example . 8 the team decided to use source code from counter strike to develop a mod called terror strike 9 which is a scenario where players fight against bots which are equipped only with knives and act like zombies . they also changed the texture of the game to create a gritty dark atmosphere . it was not conceived as a full budget project at that time . meanwhile the wizard combat game was scrapped as the team considered the project over complicated and geeky ; they decided to use the cancelled project as a prototype to work on the zombie game . 2 the idea of developing a zombie game grew after the team watched 28 days later a critically acclaimed zombie film . the film helped the team brainstorm ideas for their zombie game . 2 after that the team decided to remove all the counter strike content and started developing the zombie game in which players have to plant zombie bait and kill all the zombies present in the level . the focus later shifted to evacuating and surviving in a zombie infested area . 4 the project was later presented to valve which helped the game s funding and publishing . 4 the project s name was left 4 dead and its development began in 2005 . 4 the title was officially announced on november 20 2006 and was released in november 2008 for microsoft windows and the xbox 360 . valve south edit on january 10 2008 before the release of left 4 dead valve corporation announced that it had purchased turtle rock in an effort to expand the company s console market . gabe newell founder and president of valve corporation added that it was an easy decision for the company to make as they had high expectations for left 4 dead and considered themselves having a long term relationship with turtle rock . 10 after being acquired by valve turtle rock served as valve s in house satellite development team and was renamed valve south . 11 with the establishment of valve south nine to eleven employees moved to work at valve s headquarters in seattle . after their departure valve felt that the size of the team at valve south was too small to allow it to operate as a triple a studio 12 and that coordination between the two studios was difficult as they were physically far apart from each other . 13 meanwhile turtle rock felt that the team s communication with valve was lacking and they were dissatisfied with valve time and the slow progression of projects . 13 as a result newell proposed that turtle rock to be split from valve and that valve south be shut down after the shipment of left 4 dead . 4 valve retained the rights to the left 4 dead franchise while allowing the name turtle rock and its logo to be used again by the original team . this news was later confirmed by doug lombardi of valve on june 3 2009 . 11 turtle rock 2.0 edit after being formally closed the remaining team members including ashton and robb decided to restart turtle rock as an independent company 14 on march 17 2010 . 15 on the same day turtle rock studios put up a new website announcing they had reformed and were once again working on video games . they released an iphone automotive maintenance app named garage buddy and began hiring for a full scale project . 16 upon the company s reestablishment booth left the company and robb and ashton were requested to share the position of studio head . ashton initially declined it but eventually accepted and partnered with robb to lead the studio . both of them considered themselves developers not managers and they found the task of running turtle rock a tough challenge . at that time there were about 13 staff members in the studio . the team later rented a warehouse and re designed it to accommodate them . 4 despite being shut down by valve turtle rock still maintained a relatively close working relationship with it . 17 the studio was contracted by valve to work on the post launch content for left 4 dead and its sequel left 4 dead 2 which was developed in house by valve and worked on counter strike global offensive during its early phase of development . 2 eventually the studio decided to split away from the two franchises to work on something new . on june 2 2010 turtle rock studios announced the formation of a new division within turtle rock called turtle rock garage a small division based solely on casual games . 18 on september 22 2010 digital development management announced they were representing turtle rock studios to find publishers for their games . 19 for us this is a big deal this is our proving ground . we are not just valve s bitch . i feel for the past 20 years we ve been having to prove ourselves over and over . so here we are again trying to prove ourselves . phil robb co founder of turtle rock on evolve the concept of their next project had begun prior to the development of left 4 dead . inspired by the asymmetrical mode of left 4 dead 6 and hunting games like cabela s big game hunter the team wanted to create a game where prey could strike back at hunters . 20 the concept eventually became evolve and was the company s next full scale project . turtle rock pitched the game to multiple publishers including valve . most of them were not supportive of the idea of an asymmetrical multiplayer video game ; 21 valve was also not interested in the project . 4 these companies thought that turtle rock was too small to handle a triple a project . 21 publisher thq decided to accept the game and help with its funding . thq s then president danny bilson and jason rubin were very enthusiastic about the idea of having an asymmetrical multiplayer game like evolve . rubin once hoped that turtle rock could develop a free to play business model for the game . this idea was later scrapped and resulted in some significant changes in terms of the game s gameplay and cast . 2 on may 26 2011 thq officially announced they would be publishing turtle rock s next major title . 22 on june 10 2011 thq described turtle rock s next title as wild . 23 at that time thq had already been in a financial crisis that had begun in 2010 and eventually declared bankruptcy on december 19 2012 . 24 their game evolve was listed alongside other unannounced titles from relic entertainment vigil games and thq studios montreal in court documents filed by thq . 25 with thq unable to continue its publishing and funding roles an auction was held for other publishers to acquire these titles . publishers interested in the game visited turtle rock studio to see their secret project . 4 the company s founders felt frustrated and rubin later suggested that turtle rock bid 250 000 for its own project which ashton described as what they had in the bank . 4 however they were outbid by take two interactive which paid 11 million to acquire the game and to secure the rights to the entire franchise . 26 according to turtle rock they were super excited to work with take two . 27 the game was set to be published under take two s publishing label 2k games and was formally introduced on january 7 2014 by gaming magazine game informer . 28 during the game s development the team s size expanded to 75 staff members . 29 originally the game was to be released in october 2014 however 2k later delayed the release date to allow turtle rock to further polish the game . evolve was eventually released worldwide on february 10 2015 for microsoft windows playstation 4 and xbox one platforms . 30 future edit in may 2016 turtle rock announced that the company was working on a new intellectual property . 31 the studio would also