505 Games
| 505 Games | |
 | |
| Founded | 2006 |
| Current State | Open |
| Headquarters | Milan, Italy 🇮🇹 |
| Type | Publisher Developer (Formerly) |
| Worked On |  (iOS Port)
|
| Website | Link |
505 Games S.p.A. is an Italian video game publisher and former developer founded in 2006 as a part of the Milan-based Digital Bros. After THQ declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2012, 505 Games acquired the Drawn to Life IP during their second auction the year after. They have since went on to publish two games in the series, those being the iOS port of the original Drawn to Life and Drawn to Life: Two Realms.
History[edit]
In 2004, Digital Bros established a budget publishing label for PAL regions, titled 505 GamesStreet. This label would go on to publish an estimated 75 games, including unreleased titles - most notably entries in D3 Publisher's Simple franchise. This label would only last around two years, however, as it spun off into a separate subsidiary, 505 Games, in 2006.
505 Games would start out as the PAL publisher for the Cooking Mama series, which started the same year. Throughout the successful run of this series during the mid-to-late 2000s/early-to-mid 2010s, they would go on to publish and acquire a number of acclaimed games and franchises, such as Terraria, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, Payday 2, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, Eiyuden Chronicle, and non-PlayStation releases of Death Stranding under license from Sony Interactive Entertainment. Their most acclaimed game, Control, released in 2019, with the IP maintained by 505 Games until it was sold to the game's developer Remedy Entertainment in 2024.
Acquisition of the Drawn to Life franchise and development of Drawn to Life (iOS)[edit]
Following the financial failure of the uDraw GameTablet in 2011, THQ was forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy the following year, auctioning off all their franchises, subsidiaries and unreleased titles. In the second auction in April 2013, Nordic Games acquired almost all of THQ's remaining lot, although Drawn to Life was not among them. Instead, 505 Games bought it at the last second for a total of just $301,000, which included all rights to the series except for Drawn to Life: SpongeBob SquarePants Edition, which is owned by Nickelodeon.[1]
After obtaining the franchise, 505 Games decided the bets direction to go would be re-releases of the DS games on mobile devices. An iOS port of the first Drawn to Life would begin, developed by WayForward and directed by Jeff Luke, a developer of the original game. Not much more about the game's development is known beyond this, however the game was not natively ported, rather it was running on an emulator; this suggests the port had a rushed development.
Drawn to Life's iOS release would occur on May 6th, 2014. The port would receive negative reviews from fans and critics alike; it's poor optimization, mismatched and missing music, lack of widescreen support, button placements and technical issues were the biggest criticisms. It would receive a few updates following release, including controller support, but it would be forgotten about and eventually discontinued. The most recent archived App Store page for the port is from 2019, which suggests that it remained on the storefront for five years before being taken down.
Rejected Drawn to Life 3 Pitches[edit]
While 5th Cell was going through development issues, co-founder and executive producer Joseph M. Tringali attempted to pitch three ideas of a potential third canon Drawn to Life entry. The first was during his final years at the company, which ended up getting rejected. This pitch was never revealed to the public, so there is no information on what it could've looked like, what additions this entry could've made to the series or why it was turned down.
The second pitch was made in 2017, right as Digital Continue, the next studio he co-founded, was releasing their first game. Unlike the previous, this one would later be elaborated on; according to Tringali, it would've been a very different interpretation of the series, as evident by the concept screenshot's art style diverting from the series' usual style. This pitch would also be rejected, leading it being used as a basis for another Digital Continue game, SuperMash,[2], and a third being prepared later on.
Development of Drawn to Life: Two Realms[edit]
In late 2018, Tringali arranged the third and final Drawn to Life pitch to 505 Games[3]; this time, his team would receive the greenlight to go into full production, finally allowing the series to continue. According to Tringali, development on the game took 18 months, with the launch build being confirmed to be completed in November 2020, meaning development likely started in July 2019.
There were a lot of issues that made development difficult, ranging from development crunch, ideas being changed constantly, lots of assets going unused, issues with integrating Draw Mode into the game and, according to Tringali, a lack of resources. It hasn't been officially confirmed, however the COVID-19 pandemic is also believed to be a contributing factor. Before the launch build was finished, ratings boards received the game and rated it; the first known classification came from the Australian Classification Board, who rated the game with a G rating on September 1st. The Taiwanese rating was eventually leaked onto the internet on October 22nd, with a full trailer on 505 Games' French YouTube channel being uploaded by accident on November 3rd. This trailer was later taken down, and the game would be revealed for real three days later.
Two Realms would release on December 7th, 2020 on Steam, Nintendo Switch and mobile devices, with the South Korean release occuring three days later under H2 Interactive. The game received middling-to-negative reviews; critics and fans alike complained about the lack of draw-able objects relevant to the story, the inconsistent art direction, the story containing plot holes and contradictions from the previous canon entries, controller input latency, a number of bugs and glitches and the gameplay and story generally being unrefined. The Nintendo Switch release was especially torn apart, with the main criticism being the touch screen being incompatible with Draw Mode at launch.
A number of these issues would be addressed via the Creation Pack, free updates that would also add new levels, stickers and Hero templates. It was later found, however, that some of the content was already in the game files, with the updates serving to unlock them.
Tringali has expressed interests of remakes of the 5th Cell-developed Drawn to Life games on Nintendo Switch, as well as a sequel to Two Realms. These were determined on the performance of the game, however; with Two Realms' terrible critical reception and the lack of sales figure information available, it's believed to be a critical and commercial failure. The game would later have it's page on 505 Games' website removed, with a removal from the list of games entirely occurring in December 2024. No official reason has been given for this, but it has been speculated that 505 Games is in abandon ship mode with the game, with no other news made regarding the franchise since.
Notable Games[edit]
- Cooking Mama (2006)
- Terraria (2011)
- Payday 2 (2013)
- Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (2013)
- Drawn to Life (iOS) (2014)
- Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (2019)
- Control (2019)
- Death Stranding (2020)*
- Drawn to Life: Two Realms (2020)
- Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising (2022)
*Non-PlayStation releases
Trivia[edit]
- According to the 505 Mobile website, Drawn to Life was one of the subsidiary's top apps at the time of it's release.
- Given the port was among the earliest games released under the 505 Mobile moniker, however, it has been speculated that this list includes all of their games in order of success rate.
- It is unknown whether Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter was considered to come to mobile following the first game's release.
- The final acknowledgement of Drawn to Life by 505 Games was when Two Realms' logo was found in the company's 15th Anniversary commemoration video, released on September 1st, 2021.
Media[edit]
505 Games' current front page on their website.
505's front page during the release of Drawn to Life: Two Realms.
Two Realms' now-deleted webpage.
The current 505 Games Store front page.
The 505 Games Store front page during the release of Drawn to Life: Two Realms.
Two Realms' now-deleted Store webpage.
The 505 Mobile page promoting the iOS release of Drawn to Life.
References[edit]
| Nintendo DS | 5th Cell • THQ • Agatsuma Entertainment |
|---|---|
| iOS | 505 Games • WayForward |
|
| |
| Altron • Nickelodeon • THQ | |
|
| |
| Planet Moon Studios • THQ | |
| 5th Cell • THQ | |
| Most Regions | 505 Games • Digital Continue |
| South Korean Release | H2 Interactive |
Directory: Drawn to Life: Two Realms → 505 Games | |
