| Runecraft | |
| Successor: | Gamezlab |
| Industry: | Video games |
| Foundation: | April 1997[1] |
| Defunct: | September 2004 |
| Location Country: | Yorkshire, England |
| Num Employees: | 200 (2001)[2] |
| Parent: | BBC Multimedia (2002-2004) |
| Homepage: | runecraft.co.uk (archived) |
Runecraft (later renamed Gamezlab) was a British video game developer based in the United Kingdom. The company was founded in April 1997 and mostly developed games based on licensed properties.
In 2002, the company was commissioned by the BBC to develop a fighting game engine for the company's upcoming FightBox game show project. However, various financial issues, mismanagement, and other problems caused Runecraft to go bust at the end of December 2002. To keep the show alive, BBC Worldwide acquired the developer and a small number of its staff, and renamed the developer under BBC's core-publishing brand "Gamezlab".[3]
Following the failure of FightBox and the completion of the tie-in games, In February 2004, Gamezlab were commissioned to develop a video game based on BBC's Spooks TV series for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Microsoft Windows.[4] The game was planned to use a new internal game engine, but at the end of September 2004, BBC Multimedia closed down Gamezlab as part of a restructuring to focus on licensing and ceasing development and publication.
| Year | Game | Platform(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Risk | Windows, PlayStation |
| Caesars' Palace II | Game Boy Color, PlayStation | |
| 1999 | PlayStation | |
| Windows | ||
| Barbie Super Sports | Windows, PlayStation | |
| 2000 | PlayStation | |
| Arthur! Ready to Race | PlayStation | |
| Caesars Palace 2000 | Dreamcast, Windows, PlayStation | |
| Evo's Space Adventures | PlayStation | |
| Dreamcast | ||
| Detective Barbie: The Mystery Cruise | PlayStation | |
| 2001 | ||
| Soldier of Fortune | Dreamcast | |
| Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX | ||
| Windows, PlayStation | ||
| Rescue Heroes: Molten Menace | PlayStation | |
| Backyard Soccer | ||
| Scrabble | Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Color, PlayStation | |
| 2002 | Jim Henson's The Hoobs | PlayStation |
| Westlife: Fan-o-Mania | Windows, PlayStation | |
| Butt Ugly Martians: B.K.M. Battles | Game Boy Advance | |
| Monopoly Party | GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox | |
| Shadow of Memories | Windows | |
| Super Bubble Pop | Game Boy Advance, GameCube, PlayStation, Xbox | |
| GameCube, PlayStation 2 | ||
| 2004 | FightBox | Game Boy Advance, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2 |
| Cancelled | Spooks | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox |
| Barbie Treasures in Time | PlayStation 2, GameCube | |
| Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends | PlayStation | |
| [5] | Dreamcast |