Pendulo Studios

Pendulo Studios was an independent Spanish video game developer founded in Madrid in September 1993. It specialized in narrative-driven graphic adventures, combining point-and-click mechanics with illustrated environments, expressive characters and stories ranging from comedy to noir mystery. Its work spanned original adventures and adaptations of established comics and cinematic material for PC, consoles and mobile platforms.

The studio debuted with Igor: Objetivo Uikokahonia in 1994, widely recognized as the first point-and-click graphic adventure developed in Spain. Hollywood Monsters followed in 1997 and became a domestic success, selling more than a quarter-million copies in Spain. These early games helped establish Pendulo's place in the Spanish adventure-game industry.

International breakthrough

Runaway: A Road Adventure, released in 2001, brought the studio a wider international audience, particularly across Europe. Its distinctive visual approach combined cel-shaded cartoon characters with 2D backgrounds. The game also helped sustain the developer after the bankruptcy of its publisher, Dinamic Multimedia.

Pendulo expanded the series with Runaway 2: The Dream of the Turtle in 2006 and Runaway: A Twist of Fate in 2009. Together, the trilogy exceeded 1.5 million copies in worldwide sales. The studio subsequently explored different narrative tones through the comic adventure The Next BIG Thing and the darker mystery Yesterday, followed by Yesterday Origins.

Later adaptations

Pendulo's later productions included Blacksad: Under the Skin, based on the graphic novels by Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido, and Alfred Hitchcock - Vertigo. Its production capabilities covered game design, scripting and dialogue, background illustration, character modeling, animation, voice-over direction and localization coordination.

The studio released Tintin Reporter - Cigars of the Pharaoh in November 2023. Technical problems at launch and poor commercial performance were followed by financial difficulties and substantial staff reductions. Development and operations ceased in March 2025, ending more than three decades of activity. Formal voluntary insolvency and liquidation proceedings followed in Madrid in 2026.