Pixelberry Studios

Pixelberry Studios is a mobile game development company based in Mountain View, California, United States.[1] Founded in 2013 by Oliver Miao, Keith Emnett, and Winston She, Pixelberry aims to create "games with heart,"[2] beginning with Surviving High School and Cause of Death, which deals with themes of bullying, eating disorders and capturing serial killers.[3][4] Since then, the company has fully released three more mobile games: Hollywood U, High School Story.[1][5][6][7] In November 2017, Pixelberry was acquired by Nexon.[8]

Pixelberry Studios
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryGame Developer
FounderOliver Miao, Keith Emnett, Winston She
Headquarters
Mountain View, CA
,
United States
ParentNexon

Pixelberry launched Choices: Stories You Play in August 2016. Since the shutdown of their other games, Choices is the flagship game and primary focus for the studio.[9]In 2020, a planned plot line in one of Choices' most popular titles was leaked, leading to fan backlash and further criticism of racial insensitivity in Choices stories. Pixelberry's CEO issued a personal apology and pledged $100,000 to Black Girls Code, the Black Writers Collective, and the Latinx Writers Collective. He also committed the company to enact more representative writing and hiring practices.[10] In 2022, Pixelberry launched a sister app to Choices, called StoryLoom which features creator-made, interactive stories.

On July 15, 2022, Pixelberry Studios announced that High School Story will have its servers permanently shut down on August 10, 2022.

References
  1. "Mobile game takes a stand against cyberbullying". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  2. Strauss, Karsten. "Mobile Games With Heart? Pixelberry In 2015". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-04-26.
  3. "Inside The Game: Why Oliver Miao almost left gaming". pocketgamer.biz. Retrieved 2018-04-26.
  4. "After bullying, High School Story tackles body image and eating disorders". Polygon. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  5. "Pixelberry Studios Tackles Teenagers' Body-Image Issues With A New Mobile Game". TechCrunch. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  6. "16 percent of teens consider suicide before graduation. This quest is for them". The Washington Post. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  7. "Ex-EA devs add cyberbullying-themed quests to High School Story to teach players how to deal with the issue themselves". Pocket Gamer. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  8. "Nexon acquires High School Story developer Pixelberry Studios". VentureBeat. 2017-11-10. Retrieved 2018-04-26.
  9. Ray, Somdyuti Datta. "Pixelberry's 'Choices' Was the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Escape I Needed". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2023-07-29.
  10. https://www.pixelberrystudios.com/blog/2020/6/15/representation-at-pixelberry
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