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People Can Fly

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People Can Fly
FormerlyEpic Games Poland (2013–2015)
Company typePublic
WSE: PCF
IndustryVideo games
FoundedFebruary 2002; 22 years ago (2002-02)
Founders
Headquarters
Warsaw
,
Poland
Number of locations
7 studios (2022)
Key people
Sebastian Wojciechowski (CEO)
Number of employees
600+[2] (2023)
ParentEpic Games (2007–2015)
Websitepeoplecanfly.com

People Can Fly is a Polish video game developer based in Warsaw. The studio was founded in February 2002 by Adrian Chmielarz, previously the co-founder of Metropolis Software, together with acquaintances Michał Kosieradzki and Andrzej Poznański. The studio's first game was Painkiller (2004). Its success led to a deal with THQ for the game Come Midnight, which allowed the studio to expand. After the game was cancelled, People Can Fly found itself in financial trouble. Epic Games acquired a majority share in People Can Fly in August 2007 and collaborated with the studio on projects such as Bulletstorm (2011) and Gears of War: Judgment (2013).

Epic bought the studio outright in August 2012. Chmielarz, Kosieradzki and Poznański subsequently left the studio and later founded The Astronauts. People Can Fly was rebranded Epic Games Poland in November 2013. The studio spun off under its former name and logo in June 2015 under the lead of chief executive officer Sebastian Wojciechowski. As of April 2021, the company employs 350 people in eight locations. Its most recent game is Outriders, which was released on 1 April 2021.

History

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Founding and success with Painkiller (1992–2004)

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Before People Can Fly, Adrian Chmielarz had founded Metropolis Software with Grzegorz Miechowski, his friend since high school, in 1992. They successfully published a number of titles in Europe, including Teenagent. Due to a personal conflict with Miechowski, Chmielarz opted to leave Metropolis in 2002.[3] He considered leaving the video game industry due to the strain on his friendship with Miechowski but, after a few months, decided to try a new venture. He contacted previous acquaintances Andrzej Poznański and Michał Kosieradzki, and together they founded People Can Fly in February 2002 with the aim to bring Polish game development to a much wider audience.[3][4] Chmielarz said that, at the time, most games developed in Poland had some success locally, but were not given much attention from the rest of the world, a sentiment shared by many other Polish developers that he had talked to.[3] Chmielarz, Kosieradzki and Poznański served as the creative lead, lead artist and principal artist respectively.[5] Expanding to about twenty developers, some of whom left established jobs at other studios to join People Can Fly, the studio developed its first title, Painkiller, which was released in 2004 to critical success.[3]

Projects with Epic Games (2004–2015)

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Stemming from the success of Painkiller, People Can Fly struck a partnership with THQ to produce Come Midnight. Using THQ's multi-million dollar financing, the studio expanded to 70 people. The team worked on the game for about a year and a half, developing a proprietary game engine for it, before THQ cancelled the project in 2006 and withheld the remaining payment of approximately US$300,000.[3] With only about one month of operating capital left, Chmielarz contacted Epic Games and requested an evaluation copy of their Unreal Engine, intending for the studio to make a quick demo that they could pitch to other publishers for further funding. Epic Games' vice-president, Mark Rein, having known People Can Fly's work, personally handled the agreement. The studio created a demo within a month, and Rein was impressed with the quality of it and the speed at which it was created. He, therefore, arranged for the studio to work on a port of Epic Games' Gears of War to personal computers (PCs), saving the studio.[3][6] Epic Games also acquired a majority stake in the studio in August 2007.[7]

Epic's interest in People Can Fly led to the two companies collaborating on Bulletstorm and Gears of War: Judgment, with People Can Fly reaching about 120 staff members around this time.[3] During the development of Gears of War: Judgement, Epic Games began to discuss the full acquisition of People Can Fly, which they completed in August 2012.[8] Chmielarz, Kosieradzki and Poznański subsequently announced their departure from the studio, founding another studio, The Astronauts, shortly thereafter. Chmielarz stated the reason for their departures was due to the nature of how Epic Games was approaching game development, partially influenced by Tencent's prior investment in the company to help them develop games as a service. Chmielarz felt this approach would be limiting for them to develop narrative-driven games. He said of Epic Games' approach: "It's not about being right or wrong. Hopefully, my vision of the future and their vision of the future are both valid, because it's actually possible. They're not in opposition to each other."[3] Chmielarz was able to bring a number of other People Can Fly developers over to The Astronauts, which went on to develop the ideas that they had for Come Midnight into The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.[3] Both Chmielarz and Rein described the founding trio's departure as amicable.[3][9]

In November 2013, People Can Fly was rebranded Epic Games Poland, falling in line with Epic Games' other worldwide studios.[4] On 24 June 2015, the studio announced that it split from Epic Games to become an independent company again, reverting to its former name and logo.[10] According to Sebastian Wojciechowski, the chief executive officer of People Can Fly following the split, the studio had been working on others' intellectual property (IP) since the release of Gears of War: Judgement and wanted to return to making their own IP. While the exact details of the split were not made public, Wojciechowski described it as a "real management buyout".[11] The company retained the rights to the Bulletstorm franchise and revealed an unannounced project made using Unreal Engine 4.[10] People Can Fly continued working with Epic Games on their projects Fortnite and Spyjinx alongside developing their own IP.[12]

As an independent company (2015–present)

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People Can Fly opened a satellite studio in Newcastle upon Tyne in September 2017 with a number of former Ubisoft developers among the hired staff. They opened a second Polish studio in Rzeszów in May 2018, bringing on many workers previous laid off from CI Games. By this time, People Can Fly employed approximately 160 people, up from around 40 in 2015. This accompanied news that People Can Fly was working with Square Enix on a AAA shooter.[11][12][13] A fourth studio, People Can Fly New York, was opened in June 2019 and raised the headcount to 200.[14] One year later, People Can Fly had 250 employees.[15] People Can Fly became a public company on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in December 2020.[16]

In April 2021, People Can Fly acquired Phosphor Studios in Chicago and Game On in Montreal, raising its headcount to over 350.[16][17] Wojciechowski stated that People Can Fly was eyeing acquisitions primarily in the United States and United Kingdom because they had better price–performance ratios than those in Poland.[18] With the purchase of Incuvo Studios in December 2021, People Can Fly brought its headcount to 490.[19] In January 2024, the company laid off roughly 30 employees.[20]

Studios

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Name Location Founded/acquired Ref.
PCF Warsaw Warsaw, Poland 2002
PCF Newcastle Newcastle upon Tyne, England 2017
PCF Rzeszów Rzeszów, Poland 2018
PCF Łódź Łódź, Poland 2020 [21]
PCF New York New York City, United States 2019
PCF Chicago (formerly Phosphor Studios) Chicago, United States 2021 [22]
Game On Montreal, Canada 2021 [23]
Incuvo Katowice, Poland 2021 [24]
PCF Krakow Kraków, Poland 2022 [25]
PCF Publishing Dublin, Ireland [26]

Games developed

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Year Title Platform(s) Publisher(s) Notes
2004 Painkiller Windows, Xbox DreamCatcher Interactive
2007 Gears of War Windows Microsoft Studios Port development
2011 Duty Calls: The Calm Before the Storm Windows Electronic Arts
Bulletstorm Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox 360, Xbox One Electronic Arts, Gearbox Publishing Co-developed with Epic Games
2013 Gears of War: Judgment Xbox 360 Microsoft Studios Co-developed with Epic Games
2017 Fortnite: Save the World macOS, PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One Epic Games Co-developed with Epic Games
2021 Outriders PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Stadia, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S Square Enix
2022 Green Hell VR Microsoft Windows, Meta Quest 2, PSVR2 People Can Fly Developed by Incuvo, a People Can Fly studio
2024 Bulletstorm VR Meta Quest, PSVR2, Steam People Can Fly Developed by Incuvo, a People Can Fly Studio
2026 Project Gemini TBA Square Enix
TBA Project Maverick[27] TBA Xbox Game Studios
Project Victoria TBA People Can Fly
Project Bifrost TBA People Can Fly
Project Bison TBA / (VR) People Can Fly
Project Echo TBA Krafton

Cancelled

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References

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  1. ^ "PCF's New Logo Is Here!". People Can Fly. 18 May 2020. Archived from the original on 18 September 2020. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
  2. ^ "People Can Fly".
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Hall, Charlie (16 July 2014). "The Astronauts: A Polish Team Gets Small to Think Bigger". Polygon. Archived from the original on 9 December 2017. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  4. ^ a b Sarkar, Samit (1 November 2013). "People Can Fly now known as Epic Games Poland". Polygon. Archived from the original on 2 November 2013. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
  5. ^ Crecente, Brian (12 August 2012). "People Can Fly founders leave Epic Games to 'pursue other opportunities'". Polygon. Archived from the original on 7 December 2017. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  6. ^ "Ludzie potrafią latać". Neo+. No. 103. October 2007.
  7. ^ Geddes, Ryan (20 August 2007). "GC 2007: Epic Buys Stake in People Can Fly". IGN. Archived from the original on 4 August 2018. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  8. ^ Karmali, Luke (12 August 2012). "Epic Games Buys Gears of War: Judgment Dev". IGN. Archived from the original on 2 December 2017. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  9. ^ Crecente, Brian (13 August 2012). "Epic Games buys People Can Fly". Polygon. Archived from the original on 9 December 2017. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  10. ^ a b Hussain, Tamoor (24 June 2015). "People Can Fly Turns Independent, Buys Bulletstorm IP". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 27 June 2015. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  11. ^ a b Taylor, Haydn (18 October 2018). "The rebuilding of People Can Fly". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 18 October 2018. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  12. ^ a b Hall, Charlie (17 May 2018). "How did the studio behind Bulletstorm end up making a shooter with Square Enix?". Polygon. Archived from the original on 18 May 2018. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  13. ^ Batchelor, James (16 May 2018). "People Can Fly opens new UK, Poland studios". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 16 May 2018. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
  14. ^ Kerr, Chris (5 June 2019). "Bulletstorm and Gears of War developer People Can Fly opens New York studio". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 5 June 2019. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
  15. ^ Romano, Sal (30 July 2020). "People Can Fly developing AAA action adventure game for next-gen consoles, PC, and streaming platforms". Gematsu. Archived from the original on 30 July 2020. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  16. ^ a b Dealessandri, Marie (26 April 2021). "People Can Fly acquires Phosphor Studios". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 14 June 2021. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  17. ^ Nelipa, Svetlana (21 May 2021). "People Can Fly pokupayet amerikanskiye studii: pol'skiye slishkom dorogiye" People Can Fly покупает американские студии: польские слишком дорогие [People Can Fly buys American studios: Polish ones are too expensive]. Igromania (in Russian). Archived from the original on 21 May 2021. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  18. ^ Kucharczyk, Katarzyna (18 May 2021). "PCF: ceny wielu studiów w kraju są abstrakcyjne" [PCF: The prices of many studios in the country are unrealistic]. Parkiet (in Polish). Archived from the original on 8 June 2023. Retrieved 8 June 2023.
  19. ^ "PCF GROUP S.A (PEOPLE CAN FLY) EXPANDS ITS VR COMPETENCIES WITH A THIRD ACQUISITION OF 2021". People Can Fly. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
  20. ^ Rousseau, Jeffrey (24 January 2024). "People Can Fly reduces its workforce". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
  21. ^ Paćkowski, Daniel (26 August 2020). "People Can Fly otwiera nowe studio w Łodzi i szykuje się do wejścia na giełdę" [People Can Fly opens a new studio in Łódź and is preparing to go public]. StockWatch.pl (in Polish).
  22. ^ "People Can Fly acquires Phosphor Studios". gameindustry.biz.
  23. ^ "People Can Fly acquires Game On". People Can Fly.
  24. ^ "People Can Fly acquires Incuvo". gameindustry.biz.
  25. ^ "People Can Fly opens new office in Krakow, Poland". People Can Fly.
  26. ^ "Dublin". People Can Fly.
  27. ^ Samuel Tolbert (14 June 2023). "Microsoft and Outriders developer People Can Fly sign agreement for a new Xbox game". Windows Central. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  28. ^ Purchese, Robert (19 May 2014). "Why THQ canned Bulletstorm dev's LA Noire-like game, Come Midnight". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 20 May 2014. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  29. ^ Kłosiński, Daniel (9 April 2024). "Polskie People Can Fly wtopiło. Anulowano projekt za niemal 70 mln zł" [Polish studio People Can Fly flubbed. Their 70 mln PLN project was cancelled]. eurogamer.pl (in Polish).
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