Novarama
- Open roles
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- Founded
- 2003
- Employees
- N/A
- Offices
- 1
About Novarama
Novarama was a Barcelona video game developer founded in 2003. Its work spanned original intellectual property, augmented reality games, action RPGs and multiplayer shooters across handheld, console, PC and mobile platforms. The studio combined game development with proprietary technology and expanded some of its creations into entertainment franchises beyond video games.
Its early releases included the PC fantasy action game Fallen Lords: Condemnation in 2005 and the Nintendo DS rhythm game Music Monstars, also known as Monster Band, in 2008. International recognition followed with Invizimals for PlayStation Portable in 2009, which brought augmented reality creature hunting to Sony’s handheld platform.
The success of Invizimals led to an exclusive development relationship with Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. Novarama developed further entries in the franchise across PlayStation platforms and released Reality Fighters for PlayStation Vita in 2012. The Invizimals franchise sold more than 2.5 million video game copies and extended into an animated television series, merchandise, toys and collectible trading cards. Its physical and digital card activities included collaboration with Panini.
After ending its exclusive Sony relationship in late 2016, Novarama returned to independent operations and shifted toward self-published PC and console games. Its cooperative science-fiction action RPG Killsquad entered Steam Early Access in 2019, reached full release in 2021 and arrived on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 in 2023. The studio also worked with Adult Swim Games and Soleil on the Apple Arcade adaptation of Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time, released in 2020.
A minority investment from Tencent in March 2022 supported development of United 1944. Released into Steam Early Access in December 2023, the World War II multiplayer shooter combined 16-versus-16 combat with scavenging, crafting and base building. Following commercial difficulties and mounting losses, Novarama entered insolvency proceedings and closed in March 2024, ending roughly two decades of game development.
More about Novarama
Founders and academic origins
Novarama's founders were Daniel Sánchez-Crespo Dalmau, Alberto Díaz, Juan Luis Abadía, Marc de Miquel and Rubén López. Sánchez-Crespo served as CEO through the studio's closure. The studio emerged from an academic setting at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, where he directed the Master in Video Game Creation.
Augmented reality methods
The original Invizimals used a physical camera peripheral and fiducial markers to enable augmented reality creature hunting, linking physical objects with gameplay on a handheld device.
Recognition
Invizimals received multiple awards at E3 2009 and the Premi Ciutat de Barcelona. These recognitions were associated with the game rather than presented as awards to every Novarama production.
Notable credits
13 creditsOffices
Where Novarama is based
- Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Barcelona office
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