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Jackbox Games is a Chicago-based developer known for their quiz-based party games. Most of their titles are grouped together in entries in The Jackbox Party Pack series. Instead of using the controller, all their titles use a web application so they can be played on any smart device.
History[]
Jackbox Games was founded in 1989 by Harry Gottlieb as an educational entertainment company called Learn Television. Prior to developing You Don't Know Jack, the company created a children's trivia game called That's a Fact, Jack!. In 1995, the company rebranded as Jellyvision and developed the first edition of You Don't Know Jack; originally a PC game, its success established a franchise, and Jellyvision produced numerous installments of You Don't Know Jack from 1995 through 1998.
In 2001, the computer game market shifted, as players moved from personal computers to home consoles of the sixth generation, affecting the demand for CD-ROM games. Jellyvision attempted to enter the marketplace with console-based versions of You Don't Know Jack, but these games were unsuccessful. Jellyvision Games was shelved, and the following year Gottlieb launched a new company called the Jellyvision Lab. Pivoting away from games, the Jellyvision Lab focused on business software, developing a technology called the "interactive conversation interface" inspired by the voice-driven interface of You Don't Know Jack. These interactive conversation products were a success, in part because of the You Don't Know Jack series' popularity.
In 2008, as networked consoles and mobile devices became popular, Jellyvision Games was relaunched as a subsidiary of the Jellyvision Lab, hiring Mike Bilder to lead the studio. The company released an iOS application of You Don't Know Jack and, in partnership with THQ, a console version in 2011. The studio later developed a Facebook version of the game, allowing them to continuously provide new trivia; later, the game expanded to include a standalone mobile application that allows data sharing and competition with the Facebook version. The game, now defunct, was awarded the "Social Game of the Year" at the 2012 Spike Video Game Awards.
Near the end of 2011, Jellyvision Games was spun off into a separate company. The studio rebranded as Jackbox Games in June 2013, and announced that it would continue to focus on developing social games, for mobile devices and home entertainment devices like Roku and Ouya.
During this time, the company allowed the game to be played using smartphones and tablets as controllers, rather than actual game controllers. Jackbox released more apps including Clone Booth (a humorous photo-manipulation app) and the games Lie Swatter (a find-the-lies game of unusual facts) and Word Puttz (a word game). The studio released Fibbage: The Hilarious Bluffing Party Game on the Amazon Fire TV and as a digital-only title on Xbox One, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 in September 2014.
Fibbage proved successful with players, particularly using streaming media services like Twitch. In October 2014, the company packaged Fibbage, You Don't Know Jack, and three other games that were designed to be played with others over a stream. This was the first Jackbox Party Pack, and they have continued working on this approach, releasing a new Party Pack each year through 2021.
Around mid-March 2020, Jackbox Games experienced a large increase in traffic due to the stay-at-home limitations of the COVID-19 pandemic.
List of games[]
Nintendo Switch[]
- The Jackbox Party Pack - 2017
- The Jackbox Party Pack 2 - 2017
- The Jackbox Party Pack 3 - 2017
- The Jackbox Party Pack 4 - 2017
- Drawful 2- 2018
- The Jackbox Party Pack 5 - 2018
- The Jackbox Party Pack 6 - 2019
- Fibbage XL - 2020
- Quiplash - 2020
- The Jackbox Party Pack 7 - 2020
- Quiplash 2 InterLASHional - 2020
- The Jackbox Party Pack 8 - 2021
- The Jackbox Party Pack 9 - 2022
External links[]
- Jackbox Games at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia