HB Studios

HB Studios is a Canadian video game developer focused on sports simulation, headquartered in Nova Scotia. Founded in 2000, the studio began with Cricket 2002 for Electronic Arts and developed a substantial track record in sports games, including work across cricket, rugby, football, hockey, basketball and baseball franchises.

Its best-known original property is The Golf Club, launched in 2014. The golf-simulation series combined detailed ball physics with a course-creation toolset and became the foundation for the studio’s long-running work on the PGA TOUR 2K franchise. HB Studios developed PGA TOUR 2K21, PGA TOUR 2K23 and PGA TOUR 2K25 under the 2K Sports label.

Development capabilities

The studio’s supported capabilities include:

• Full-cycle console and PC game development
• Sports-simulation gameplay, authentic mechanics and golf physics
• Gameplay, physics and networking engineering
• In-game course architecture and procedural design systems
• 3D environment, character, asset and prop production
• Character rigging, skinning, facial animation and motion-capture pipeline integration
• Production management, UI/UX, audio engineering and live-operations support

HB Studios has experience delivering games across modern console and PC platforms, as well as earlier mobile and handheld systems. Its historical credits include The Golf Club series, Mark McMorris Infinite Air, NBA Baller Beats, R.B.I. Baseball, Rugby World Cup 2015, FIFA titles, Madden NFL titles, NBA Live titles and Cricket titles.

In March 2021, Take-Two Interactive acquired HB Studios as a wholly owned subsidiary operating under the 2K publishing label. The acquisition followed the commercial success of PGA TOUR 2K21 and coincided with a multi-year partnership involving Tiger Woods as an executive director and consultant for the golf franchise. HB Studios remains active as a specialist developer for sports-focused interactive entertainment.