High Moon Studios
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Predecessor | Sammy Entertainment Inc., Sammy Studios, Inc. |
| Founded | April 2001 |
| Founder | John Rowe (management buyout) |
| Fate | Acquired by Vivendi Games in January 2006; now subsidiary of Activision |
| Headquarters | United States |
Key people | John Rowe (former president and CEO) |
| Products | Transformers series, Call of Duty contributions, Destiny franchise |
| Parent | Activision |
High Moon Studios, Inc.—previously known as Sammy Entertainment Inc. and Sammy Studios, Inc.—is a United States-based video game developer established in 2001. After operating independently for almost a year, it was purchased by Vivendi Games in January 2006 and integrated into Sierra Entertainment. Presently, it functions as a subsidiary of Activision. The company is recognized for producing various Transformers titles and has also contributed to specific Call of Duty releases as well as the Destiny franchise.
History
Founded in April 2001 as a segment of the Japanese publisher Sammy, the studio was initially called Sammy Entertainment before being renamed Sammy Studios. Its primary mission was to develop and distribute games within the American market. Following the 2004 merger between Sammy and Sega, which resulted in the creation of Sega Sammy Holdings, Sammy discontinued its U.S. game development efforts and intended to shut down Sammy Studios. Nevertheless, on March 3, 2005, a management buyout led by then-president and CEO John Rowe acquired the studio, rebranding it as High Moon Studios. This transition shifted the company’s focus exclusively toward game development, maintaining projects such as the Western-themed horror shooter Darkwatch. In January 2006, the studio was acquired by Vivendi Universal Games. Subsequently, after the merger of Vivendi and Activision, High Moon Studios became part of the Activision group.
Following the completion of Deadpool, Activision reduced High Moon’s full-time workforce by 40 employees to better synchronize development capacity with its project pipeline.
Games developed
| Year | Title | Platform(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Darkwatch | PlayStation 2, Xbox |
| 2008 | Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy | PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 |
| 2010 | Transformers: War for Cybertron | PlayStation 3, Windows, Xbox 360 |
| 2011 | Transformers: Dark of the Moon | PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 |
| 2012 | Transformers: Fall of Cybertron | PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox 360, Xbox One |
| 2013 | Deadpool | |
| 2014 | Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare | |
| Destiny | PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One | |
| 2016 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered | PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One |
| 2017 | Destiny 2 | |
| Call of Duty: WWII | ||
| 2019 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | |
| 2020 | Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War | PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series |
| 2021 | Call of Duty: Vanguard | |
| 2022 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 | |
| 2023 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III | |
| 2024 | Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 | |
| 2025 | Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 |