Fire Monkeys
The latest tweets from @iFireMonkey. Key Traits of the Fire Monkey Chinese Zodiac Sign The Fire Monkey doesn’t ever miss a thing from what is going on around. 0 Those born in the year of the Fire Monkey dream big and are very good with business. A devastating New Year’s Eve fire reportedly sparked by fireworks ripped through the monkey house of a German zoo, killing more than 30 animals, including gorillas, orangutans, chimpanzees.
| Type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Predecessors | |
| Founded | July 2012; 8 years ago |
| Headquarters | Melbourne, Australia |
Key people | Robert Murray |
| Products | Real Racing series Flight Control series |
| 170[1] | |
| Parent | Electronic Arts |
| Website | www.firemonkeys.com.au |
Firemonkeys Studios is an Australian developer and publisher of video games, based in Melbourne, Victoria. In May 2011, Electronic Arts announced the acquisition of Firemint for an undisclosed sum, making it an in-house studio for EA Interactive. IronMonkey Studios were also taken under EA Interactive's wing back in 2010.[2]
In January 2011, Firemint acquired fellow Australian video game developer Infinite Interactive, best known for the Puzzle Quest series. In July 2012, Firemint announced a post on their blog that Firemint would merge with IronMonkey Studios by EA and merge their names into Firemonkeys. All-new games, including Need for Speed: Most Wanted and Real Racing 3, are released with the new company name.[3]
Awards[edit]
Firemint was awarded the Arts and Entertainment Award for being amongst the most successful exporters in 2009 at the Australian Export Awards in November.[4]
Games[edit]
Firemint have produced a number of different games for different platforms and different publisher. Starting with the Nicktoons Racing in 2002 for the Game Boy Advance. For several years after publishing their debut game Firemint continued to produce and release games for the Game Boy Advance and mobile devices. It wasn't until early 2008, however, with the release of the AppleiPhone in 2007 did Firemint really expand their games market share. During 2009, Firemint developed their two most popular games, Flight Control and Real Racing. These games went on to achieve great success with the subsequent release of two sequels each, Flight Control HD in 2010, Flight Control Rocket in 2012, Real Racing 2 was released in 2010 and Real Racing 3 in 2013.[5]
Acquisition[edit]
Electronic Arts, with a market capitalization of US$6.7 billion, announced the acquisition of Melbourne-based gaming studio Firemint overnight in a press release for an undisclosed amount. Firemint is recognised as one of the leading game developers on the iOS platform. According to Barry Cottle, General Manager of EA Interactive 'The Firemint team is remarkable for its critical and commercial success. Having them as part of EAi will accelerate our position as worldwide leader in game development for mobile devices and online gaming platforms.' In January, Murray told SmartCompany the work-for-hire market is growing thin, especially as the Australian dollar continues to climb. Coming under the EA banner will give the company security.[6]
Layoffs[edit]
In February 2019, Electronic Arts announced that 40 to 50 of Firemonkeys 200 staff would be laid off, to focus the studio more on live services. This equals around 5% of the entire Australian game industries workforce.[7]
Released[edit]
| Game | Platform | Release date |
|---|---|---|
| Need for Speed: No Limits | iOS / Android | September 2015 |
| Real Racing 3 | iOS / Android | February 2013 |
| The Sims FreePlay | iOS / Android / Kindle Fire / BlackBerry 10 / Windows Phone | December 2011 |
| Need for Speed: Most Wanted | iOS / Android | October 2012 |
| Flight Control Rocket | iOS / Windows Phone | March 2012 |
| Spy Mouse | iOS / Android | August 2011 |
| Real Racing 2 | iOS / Android / Mac OS X | December 2010 |
| Flight Control HD | PlayStation 3 / PlayStation Network | September 2010 |
| Flight Control | Nintendo DSi / DSiWare | February 2010 |
| Real Racing | iOS | June 2009 |
| Flight Control | iOS / Windows Phone | March 2009 |
| The Simpsons Arcade for iPhone | iOS | February 2009 |
| Back at the Barnyard: Slop Bucket Games | Nintendo DS | October 2008 |
| Madden NFL 09 3D | Mobile | August 2008 |
| The Fast and the Furious: Pink Slip 3D | iOS, Mobile | August 2008 |
| The Sims DJ | iPod | June 2008 |
| Project Joystick: Dung | Mobile, PC | May 2008 |
| Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots | Game Boy Advance | October 2007 |
| FIA World Rally Championship | Mobile | September 2007 |
| Madden NFL 08 3D | Mobile | August 2007 |
| The Fast & the Furious: Fugitive | Mobile | June 2007 |
| Ratatouille | Mobile | June 2007 |
| Tinker Bell: Fly! | Mobile | February 2007 |
| Need for Speed: Most Wanted | Mobile | October 2006 |
| Madden NFL 07 3D | Mobile | August 2006 |
| Socceroos: Path to Glory | Mobile | June 2006 |
| Sopranos Poker | Mobile | March 2006 |
| Snood 2: On Vacation | Mobile | August 2005 |
| NBA 1 on 1 2006 | Mobile | June 2005 |
| Star Trek: The Cold Enemy | Mobile | February 2005 |
| Black Rain: Revenge | Mobile | September 2004 |
| Ryan Giggs International | Mobile | August 2004 |
| Tokyo Fighter | Mobile | December 2003 |
| Soul Daddy BKB | Mobile | August 2003 |
| Soul Daddy in LA | Mobile | July 2003 |
| Nicktoons Racing | Game Boy Advance | June 2002 |
References[edit]
- ^'New Headquarters Takes Victoria's Digital Games Sector to a New Level'. 15 August 2016.
- ^Moses, Asher (4 May 2011). 'High-tech Aussie lands multimillion-dollar deal'. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 4 May 2011.
- ^'IronMonkey and Firemint become Firemonkeys'. 24 July 2012. Archived from the original on 30 July 2012. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
- ^'Firemint Wins Australian Export Award'. Austrade Media Release.
- ^'firemint projects'. Archived from the original on 8 March 2009. Retrieved 12 June 2009.
- ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 14 April 2012. Retrieved 4 May 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^'EA's Australian Studio Hit By Massive Layoffs'. Kotaku Australia. Kotaku. 22 February 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
External links[edit]
BERLIN (AP) — A fire raced through a zoo in western Germany in the first few minutes of the new year, killing more than 30 animals, including apes, monkeys, bats and birds, authorities said. Police said paper sky lanterns launched nearby to celebrate the arrival of 2020 were probably to blame.
Several witnesses saw cylindrical paper lanterns with little fires inside flying in the night sky shortly after midnight Wednesday near the Krefeld Zoo, Gerd Hoppmann, the city’s head of criminal police, told reporters.
“People reported seeing those sky lanterns flying at low altitude near the zoo and then it started burning,” Hoppmann said.
He said investigators also found used lanterns on the ground that hadn’t burned entirely. They were 34 centimeters (over 13 inches) long, made out of white paper with an opening at the bottom where a small fire would be suspended. The fire heats the air inside, making them fly and shine at night.
Police and firefighters received the first emergency calls at 12:38 a.m.
The zoo near the Dutch border said its entire ape house burned down and more than 30 animals — including five orangutans, two gorillas, a chimpanzee and several monkeys — were killed, as well as fruit bats and birds.
Only two chimpanzees were able to be rescued from the flames by firefighters. They suffered burns but are in stable condition, zoo director Wolfgang Dressen said.
“It’s close to a miracle that Bally, a 40-year-old female chimpanzee, and Limbo, a younger male, survived this inferno,” Dressen said, adding that many of the zoo’s animal handlers were in shock at the devastation.
“We have to seriously work through the mourning process,” Dressen said. “This is an unfathomable tragedy.”
He said many of the dead animals were close to extinction in the wild.
The zoo said the Gorilla Garden, which is near its devastated Ape House, didn’t go up in flames and that gorilla Kidogo and six other members of his family are alive.
Germans usually welcome in the new year with fireworks at midnight and people are allowed to buy and launch fireworks. Sky lanterns, however, are both illegal and uncommon in Krefeld and most of Germany. The mini hot-air balloons made of paper have been used in Asia for centuries.
After requests by police for witnesses to come forward, Krefeld police said several people had come in and were being interrogated. Police said they would not release details on them.
Hoppmann said some of the partially burned lanterns had handwritten notes on them.
Technical Support – Firemonkeys
The Krefeld zoo, which opened in 1975, attracts 400,000 visitors each year. It closed after the fire and plans to remain closed Thursday.