Eden Games S.A.S.

Eden Games is a game development studio. It was originally owned by Atari and based in Lyon, France.

The company was founded on 4 January 1998 as Eden Studios by Stéphane Baudet, Frédéric Jay and David Nadal. All three of them previously worked together at Infogrames as a part of the internal Eden development group. By forming the company, Eden became independent. The studio initially signed contracts with Infogrames for two V-Rally games, but asserted its independence by signing a publishing agreement with Electronic Arts in 1999.

In May 2002, the company was sold to Infogrames (that later became Atari), which already held 19.8% of the company's shares. In September 2003, the name was changed to Eden Games S.A.S.

Most recently, the studio is known for the Alone in the Dark reboot (2008) and the Test Drive Unlimited series.

In May 2011, it became known the team of 80 people faced redundancies of over 50 jobs. Eden felt it was a victim of mismanagement by Atari and decided to go on strike to negotiate on the redundancy plan, get fair compensation, and be involved with the future of the studio after the restructuring. The studio was closed on 1 March 2013, but reopened on 31 October 2013.

In 2011, a number of developers left to found the studio Blossom Minds.

Eden Games, long under Atari’s ownership, was placed into judicial liquidation on 29 January 2013, effectively shuttering the studio. Despite a promise by Atari earlier in 2012 that the studio "had not closed", the liquidation marked its end as part of Atari. However, the studio rose again: on 31 October 2013, former employees relaunched Eden Games as an independent development operation, no longer associated with Atari. This revival was made possible thanks to funding by investment firms ID Invest and Monster Capital

Under its new independent structure, Eden Games shifted its focus primarily to racing games for mobile platforms and later for consoles. Its first post-relaunch release was GT Spirit on Apple TV in December 2015. They then created the Gear.Club franchise, developed with support from publishers like Microids and Apple, and in partnership with Codemasters and Electronic Arts on F1®. The success of Gear.Club Unlimited on Nintendo Switch led to an expanded partnership to bring Gear.Club Unlimited 2 to next-gen consoles (Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5), announced for Q4 2021.

From 2017 to 2021, Eden Games operated as a subsidiary of Engine Gaming & Media (also known as Engine Media). During this time, they continued to build their racing portfolio, including titles like Gear.Club Unlimited 2 and Gear.Club: Stradale.

In April 2022, Engine Gaming & Media sold its interest in Eden Games to Animoca Brands for approximately USD 15.3 million (~USD 16 million). Animoca, a Hong Kong-based leader in blockchain-based entertainment and metaverse gaming, acquired Eden to bolster its REVV Motorsport ecosystem and develop new Web3/blockchain-based racing games featuring NFTs and play-to-earn mechanics. Animoca’s CEO Yat Siu noted that Eden’s 25 years of racing game expertise would bring significant value to its metaverse ambitions.

Eden Games remains active and is still based in Lyon, France, now as part of Animoca Brands. The studio continues to work on racing games across mobile, PC, and console platforms, and is involved in blockchain/metaverse game development under Animoca's umbrella. The studio has also developed several racing titles for Microids. The company is led by two original founders, David Nadal and Jean-Yves Geffroy.