Digital Extremes

Digital Extremes Ltd.

Type| Subsidiary
Industry| Video games
Founded| 1993; 33 years ago (1993)
Headquarters| London, Ontario, Canada

Number of employees

| 450+[1] (2025)
Parent| Leyou
Divisions| Digital Extremes Toronto[2]
Website| digitalextremes.com

Digital Extremes Ltd. is a Canadian video game developer founded in 1993 by James Schmalz. They are best known for creating Warframe, a free-to-play cooperative online action game; and co-creating Epic Games' Unreal series of games. Digital Extremes is headquartered in London, Ontario. In 2014, 61% of the company was sold to Chinese holding company Multi Dynamic, now Leyou, for $73 million.[3] In May 2016 Leyou exercised a call option and increased their stake to 97% of Digital Extremes for a total consideration of $138.2 million US.[4] In December 2020, Tencent bought Leyou for 1.3 billion dollars, which included the majority stake in Digital Extremes that Leyou held.

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 Projects
* 3 Technology
* 4 Awards and recognition
* 5 Games developed
* 6 Further reading
* 7 References
* 8 External links

## History

Founder James Schmalz created Epic Pinball, published by then shareware publisher Epic MegaGames. Bolstered from the success of Epic Pinball[5] and the rising technology movement in the mid-'90s toward realistic 3D graphics, Schmalz founded Digital Extremes in 1993 and the company began co-development with Epic on what would become Epic's Unreal franchise.[6]

Unreal is a first-person shooter, released in 1998, and was followed up with Unreal Tournament in 1999, which received numerous industry awards.[7] Subsequent sequels in the Unreal franchise include Unreal Championship, Unreal Tournament 2003, and Unreal Tournament 2004. The Unreal series has sold more than 15 million units worldwide across Windows, Mac, PlayStation 2, Dreamcast, Xbox, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and other platforms.

According to Scott Miller, the co-founder of the video game company 3D Realms, Digital Extremes was willing to take over development of their much-delayed game Duke Nukem Forever in 2004, but the proposal was rejected by others at 3D Realms, which Miller described as a "fatal suicide shot" for the project.[8]

Digital Extremes released the original third-person shooter, Dark Sector, in 2008 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Windows. It uses the proprietary Evolution Engine.

Digital Extremes worked with 2K to develop the comic-book franchise video game sequel, The Darkness II, which met with positive reviews.[9][10][11][12] Digital Extremes developed the PlayStation 3 version of BioShock,[13] as well as developed the multiplayer component of the sequel, BioShock 2, while simultaneously developing the multiplayer portion of THQ's first-person shooter Homefront.[14]

Digital Extremes developed the game for the 2013 Star Trek Into Darkness film, working with Bandai Namco and Paramount to develop Star Trek, which was poorly received.[15]

In October 2014, Sumpo Food Holdings Ltd. acquired a majority share of Digital Extremes, with Perfect World Co. acquiring minority shares.[16][17][18] Sumpo was rebranded as Leyou in 2015, and by June 2016, had purchased the remaining shares in Digital Extremes.[19][20]

In 2016, it was revealed that Digital Extremes' game Warframe had been hacked, exposing the email addresses of more than 700,000 players.[21]

Digital Extremes opened a development studio in Toronto, Canada, and began operations in January 2018.[2]

In December 2020, Leyou was acquired by Tencent, which included Digital Extremes. The developer stated that this would not change how they operate as they remained independent of Tencent, though through Tencent they would be able to provide better support for the Chinese version of the Warframe client.[22]

In July 2022, Digital Extremes publicly revealed their latest free-to-play cooperative online action game, Soulframe, via a cinematic trailer at TennoCon,[23] Digital Extremes' annual fan convention.[24]

In October 2023, James Schmalz stepped down as CEO, with former Warframe director Steve Sinclair promoted to CEO. Community manager Rebecca Ford became the game's new director.[25] In the following month, Digital Extremes reportedly laid off about 30 employees, mostly from their external projects division. While the layoffs were confirmed, the company would not state how many people were affected. They also terminated their partnership with Airship Syndicate, returning Wayfinder to their control.[26]

## Projects

Digital Extremes started development of Warframe, a free-to-play title, in 2000. Digital Extremes launched Warframe on PC in March 2013, PlayStation 4 in November, and on Xbox One in September 2014. The company released Warframe on Nintendo Switch in November 2018, PlayStation 5 in November 2020, Xbox Series X/S in April 2021, iOS in February 2024, Android in Canada on February 11, 2026 followed by a global release on February 18, 2026, and Nintendo Switch 2 on March 25, 2026. Digital Extremes continues to refresh this games-as-a-service title on a regular basis with updates including "Plains of Eidolon" (October 2017), "The Sacrifice" (June 2018), "Fortuna" (November 2018), the Nightwave series (February 2019), "The Jovian Concord" (May 2019), "Empyrean" (Christmas 2019), "Heart of Deimos" (August 2020), "The New War" (December 2021), "Angels of the Zariman" (April 2022), "The Duviri Paradox" (April 2023), "Warframe 1999" (December 2024) and "The Old Peace" (December 2025).

Digital Extremes worked with developer n-Space to develop the fantasy role-playing video game, Sword Coast Legends, set within the Dungeons & Dragons franchise.[27]

Digital Extremes developed The Amazing Eternals, a team-based multiplayer online first-person shooter video game. The game was announced and entered closed alpha on May 23, 2017, under the development codename "Keystone".[28] Closed beta began three months later on August 29.[29] By October, development was "paused", according to a forum post by a staff member.[30][31] The cancellation of the project and Digital Extremes' decision to refocus on its more successful title Warframe was later attributed in part the commercial failure of LawBreakers and the lack of interest in The Amazing Eternals closed beta.[32]

The team worked with Madison, Wisconsin-based developer Human Head Studios to publish Survived By, a free-to-play bullet-hell MMO with crafting and role-playing elements. Survived By was shut down as of April 2019.[33]

During TennoCon 2022, Digital Extremes announced Soulframe, a fantasy MMORPG currently playable via a pre-alpha version titled Soulframe Preludes.[34] It also said that it would be publishing a massively multiplayer online game from Airship Syndicate, Wayfinder,[35] but after Wayfinder's release in August 2023, Digital Extremes cut their external games division, leaving Wayfinder under Airship Syndicate's control.[36]

On November 25, 2025, Digital Extremes launched the Founders program for Soulframe. The Founders program is expected to continue until later in 2026, and will also be available at the time of the game's release on consoles.[37]

## Technology

The Evolution logo

Evolution is Digital Extremes' proprietary game engine.[38] The engine made its debut with Dark Sector and was again utilized in The Darkness II.[39] 2013's Star Trek featured use of the Evolution engine. It is currently utilised in Warframe and Soulframe Preludes.

## Awards and recognition

Since the launch of Warframe, its expansion and popularity has grown, resulting in multiple awards. In late 2017, Warframe won the Steam Labor of Love award,[40] an award nominated by Steam's internal team, but voted on by players. Warframe was nominated in The 2017 and 2018 Game Awards as one of the Best Ongoing Games, losing to Overwatch and Fortnite, respectively.[41]

In early 2018, Warframe won the People's Voice Webby Award for Best Action Game,[42] and ProMax's Best Marketing Campaign of the Year Award.[43] In March 2018, Noclip published the video documentary on the making of Warframe. The two-part feature tells the story of how Warframe succeeded as an independently developed and published game that changed the course of Digital Extremes.[44]Cite error: Closing `</ref>` missing for `<ref>` tag and through to 2018.[45] Additionally, the company has been recognized as one of Canada's top employers for Young People.[46] In 2010 and 2011, the Financial Post named Digital Extremes one of the 10 best companies to work for in Canada.[47]

On the provincial level, Digital Extremes received the Ontario Small Business Award in 2010.[48] Digital Extremes was also presented with the Large Business of the Year award in 2011 from the London Chamber of Commerce.[49] Digital Extremes was also awarded the Excellence in Human Resources award from The London Chamber of Commerce in early 2012.[50] Also, in 2025, Digital Extremes was awarded the Corporate Icon Award from London Chamber of Commerce.[51]

## Games developed

Year  | Title  | Platform(s)

|
|

1993  | Solar Winds | MS-DOS
1993  | Epic Pinball | MS-DOS
1993  | Silverball | MS-DOS
1995  | Extreme Pinball | MS-DOS, PlayStation
1998  | Unreal | Windows, Mac OS
1999  | Unreal Tournament | Windows, Mac OS, Linux, PlayStation 2, Dreamcast
2001  | Software:Adventure Pinball: Forgotten Island | Windows
2002  | Unreal Championship | Xbox
2002  | Unreal Tournament 2003 | Windows, Mac OS, Linux
2004  | Unreal Tournament 2004 | Windows, Mac OS, Linux
2005  | Pariah | Windows, Xbox
2006  | Warpath | Windows, Xbox
2008  | Dark Sector | Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
2008  | BioShock (PS3 port) | PlayStation 3
2010  | BioShock 2 (multiplayer) | Windows, Mac OS, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
2011  | Homefront (multiplayer) | Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
2012  | The Darkness II | Windows, Mac OS, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
2013  | Warframe | Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, iOS, Android
2013  | Star Trek | Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
2015  | Sword Coast Legends | Windows, Mac OS, Linux, Xbox One, PlayStation 4
Canceled  | The Amazing Eternals | Windows
2018  | Survived By (published) | Windows
TBD  | Soulframe | Windows

## Further reading

* Keighley, Geoff. "Blinded By Reality: The True Story Behind the Creation of Unreal". http://www.gamespot.com/features/makeunreal/.
* Lafferty, Michael. "Digital Extremes moves from the days of shareware programs to set the mark in mainstream gaming". http://www.gamezone.com:80/news/03_13_02_08_44AM.htm.
* "Made-in-Canada game is Unreal hit". https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/technology/made-in-canada-game-is-unreal-hit/article25697227/?ref=https://www.theglobeandmail.com&.
* Kuchera, Ben (November 21, 2017). "Why didn't anyone tell me Warframe is now the perfect game?". https://www.polygon.com/2017/11/21/16687590/warframe-perfect-game-for-real?ref=https://www.polygon.com&.
* Kuchera, Ben (January 2, 2018). "How Warframe built an ethical free-to-play economy". https://www.polygon.com/2018/1/2/16830328/warframe-free-to-play-f2p-platinum?ref=https://www.polygon.com&.
* Brightman, James (December 4, 2017). "Warframe dev: Industry must get better at giving players a choice and a voice". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-12-04-warframe-dev-industry-must-get-better-at-giving-players-a-choice-and-a-voice/.
* Sinclair, Brendan (March 28, 2017). "Redefining community management for games-as-a-service". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-03-28-redefining-community-management-for-games-as-a-service/.
* Fillari, Alessandro. "There's No Other Game Like Warframe On The Switch". https://www.gamespot.com/videos/theres-no-other-game-like-warframe-on-the-switch/2300-6447323/.
* Marks, Tom (November 20, 2018). "Warframe Review - 2018". https://www.ign.com/articles/2018/11/20/warframe-review-3/.
* Senior, Tom (December 14, 2018). "From Epic Pinball to Warframe: 25 years of Digital Extremes". PC Gamer. https://www.pcgamer.com/from-epic-pinball-to-warframe-25-years-of-digital-extremes/.
* Mahardy, Mike. "You Should be Playing Warframe". https://www.gamespot.com/videos/you-should-be-playing-warframe/2300-6448956/.
* Ye, Josh (August 22, 2021). "Why Tencent spent US$1.3 billion to buy video gaming firm Leyou, but left it to languish". https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3145836/why-tencent-spent-us13-billion-buy-video-gaming-firm-leyou-left-it.

## References

1. ↑ "Digital Extremes - Our Company". July 15, 2025. https://www.digitalextremes.com/about.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Digital Extremes expands to Toronto". Gamesindustry.biz. http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-10-06-digital-extremes-expands-to-toronto.
3. ↑ "GamesBeat Boss interview: China's Leyou moves from chicken meat to triple-A game publishing" (in en-US). VentureBeat. 2017-09-02. https://venturebeat.com/2017/09/02/gamesbeat-boss-interview-chinas-leyou-moves-from-chicken-meat-to-triple-a-game-publishing/.
4. ↑ "HKSE-Listed Leyou Technologies Acquires Balance of Digital Extremes from Founders | Bennett Jones". https://www.bennettjones.com/Mandates-Section/HKSE-Listed-Leyou-Technologies-Acquires-Balance-of-Digital-Extremes-from-Founders.
5. ↑ RGB Classic Games. "Epic Pinball". RGB Classic Games. http://www.classicdosgames.com/game/Epic_Pinball.html.
6. ↑ David Jenkins (August 20, 2007). "Digital Extremes Weighs In On Unreal Engine 3 for PS3". Gamasutra.com. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/digital-extremes-weighs-in-on-unreal-engine-3-for-ps3.
7. ↑ "GT Interactive and Epic Games Earn Coveted 'Game of the Year' Honors for 'Unreal Tournament'". Business Wire. February 17, 2000. pp. 1261.
8. ↑ Tyler Wilde (2022-05-11). "Former 3D Realms owners clash over Duke Nukem Forever blame" (in en). PC Gamer. https://www.pcgamer.com/former-3d-realms-owners-blame-each-other-for-losing-duke-nukem-forever/.
9. ↑ "PC Gamer review". February 7, 2012. https://www.pcgamer.com/the-darkness-2-review/.
10. ↑ "Giant Bomb review". February 7, 2012. https://www.giantbomb.com/reviews/the-darkness-ii-review/1900-461/.
11. ↑ "EGM Review". http://www.egmnow.com/articles/reviews/egm-review-the-darkness-ii/.
12. ↑ "Quarter to Three Review". February 28, 2012. https://www.quartertothree.com/fp/2012/02/28/in-the-grip-of-the-darkness-ii/.
13. ↑ Mike Bendel (June 8, 2008). "Digital Extremes To Assist In BioShock PS3 Development". exophase.com. http://exophase.com/6192/digital-extremes-to-assist-in-bioshock-ps3-development/.
14. ↑ Jaz McDougall (August 18, 2010). "Homefront PC port has dedicated servers". pcgamer.com. https://www.pcgamer.com/homefront-pc-port-has-dedicated-servers/.
15. ↑ "Star Trek director J.J. Abrams 'emotionally hurt' by Star Trek: The Video Game". September 13, 2013. https://www.polygon.com/2013/9/13/4726170/star-trek-director-j-j-abrams-emotionally-hurt-by-star-trek-the-video.
16. ↑ Digital Extremes (October 14, 2014). "In-Depth: Partnership Announced". https://warframe.com/news/partnership-announced.
17. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (October 15, 2014). "Unreal, BioShock Dev Digital Extremes Sold to Chinese Companies". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. http://www.gamespot.com/articles/unreal-bioshock-dev-digital-extremes-sold-to-chine/1100-6422976/.
18. ↑ Futter, Mike (October 16, 2014). "Digital Extremes: No Changes To Leadership Following Majority Acquisition By Chinese Firms". Game Informer (GameStop). https://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2014/10/16/two-chinese-companies-acquire-majority-of-warframe-dev-digital-extremes.aspx. Retrieved October 18, 2014.
19. ↑ "GamesBeat Boss interview: China's Leyou moves from chicken meat to triple-A game publishing" (in en-US). VentureBeat. 2017-09-02. https://venturebeat.com/2017/09/02/gamesbeat-boss-interview-chinas-leyou-moves-from-chicken-meat-to-triple-a-game-publishing/.
20. ↑ "Lexpert ® | Leyou Technologies acquires 39% of Digital Extremes for US$65 million" (in en). https://www.lexpert.ca/article/leyou-technologies-acquires-39-of-digital-extremes-for-us65-million/?p=14|119.
21. ↑ "Digital Extremes admits Warframe hack". July 22, 2016. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2016-07-23-digital-extremes-admits-warframe-hack.
22. ↑ Stanton, Rich (December 23, 2020). "Tencent acquires Warframe developer Digital Extremes and several other studios". PC Gamer. https://www.pcgamer.com/tencent-acquires-warframe-developer-digital-extremes-and-several-other-studios/.
23. ↑ Makar, Connor (July 16, 2022). "Digital Extremes announces Soulframe and indie publishing during TennoCon 2022". https://www.vg247.com/soulframe-digital-extremes-publishing-airship-syndicate.
24. ↑ Jubbal, Veerender Singh (July 18, 2022). "Warframe TennoCon 2022 announces charity partner Indspire". https://www.pcgamesn.com/warframe/tennocon-2022-charity-indspire.
25. ↑ Writer, Jeffrey Rousseau Staff (2023-10-24). "James Schmalz steps down as CEO of Digital Extremes" (in en). https://www.gamesindustry.biz/james-schmalz-steps-down-as-ceo-of-digital-extremes.
26. ↑ Writer, Sophie McEvoy Staff (2023-11-10). "Digital Extremes impacted by layoffs, closing publishing division" (in en). https://www.gamesindustry.biz/digital-extremes-impacted-by-layoffs-closing-publishing-division.
27. ↑ Jared Petty (February 13, 2015). "New Dungeons & Dragons Game Sword Coast Legends coming in 2015". IGN. https://ca.ign.com/articles/2015/02/12/new-dungeons-and-dragons-game-sword-coast-legends-coming-in-2015.
28. ↑ "Digital Extremes ANNOUNCES KEYSTONE". May 23, 2017. https://www.digitalextremes.com/news/2017/05/digital-extremes-announces-keystone.
29. ↑ "FOUNDERS PROGRAM REVEALED". August 16, 2017. http://www.digitalextremes.com/news/2017/08/founders-program-revealed.
30. ↑ "The Amazing Eternals Development" (in en-US). 2017-10-25. https://forums.amazingeternals.com/topic/4039-the-amazing-eternals-development/.
31. ↑ Bailey, Dustin (October 16, 2017). "Digital Extremes have "hit the pause button" on the Amazing Eternals development". https://www.pcgamesn.com/the-amazing-eternals/the-amazing-eternals-cancelled.
32. ↑ Bailey, Dustin (July 9, 2018). "Digital Extremes' the Amazing Eternals was cancelled partly because of LawBreakers". https://www.pcgamesn.com/the-amazing-eternals/digital-extremes-new-game.
33. ↑ "Survived By: A MESSAGE TO OUR PLAYERS". March 19, 2019. https://www.survivedby.com/news/a-message-to-our-players.
34. ↑ Watson, Philip (July 19, 2025). "After Months of Being Invite-Only, You Can Play Soulframe's Pre-Alpha Build Right Now". https://www.thegamer.com/soulframe-warframe-fantasy-pre-alpha-play-today/.
35. ↑ Maker, Connor (July 16, 2022). "Digital Extremes announces Soulframe and indie publishing during TennoCon 2022". VG 247. https://www.vg247.com/soulframe-digital-extremes-publishing-airship-syndicate. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
36. ↑ Carpenter, Nicole (November 9, 2023). "Wayfinder, Warframe publisher Digital Extremes cuts workers, divests from Wayfinder". Polygon. https://www.polygon.com/23954222/warframe-publisher-digital-extremes-layoffs. Retrieved November 9, 2023.
37. ↑ "Soulframe Founders". November 25, 2025. https://www.soulframe.com/en/shop/founders.
38. ↑ Mark DeLoura (March 9, 2010). "In-Depth: The State Of Game Engines At GDC 2010". gamasutra.com. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/in-depth-the-state-of-game-engines-at-gdc-2010.
39. ↑ Kranzl, Justin (May 5, 2011). "Preview: The Darkness II". Stuff.co.nz. http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/games/4967002/Preview-The-Darkness-II.
40. ↑ "The Steam Awards" (in en). https://store.steampowered.com/SteamAwards/2017/.
41. ↑ "Awards - The Game Awards" (in en-US). The Game Awards. http://thegameawards.com/awards/#best-ongoing-game.
42. ↑ "Warframe | The Webby Awards" (in en-US). https://www.webbyawards.com/winners/2018/games/general/action/warframe/.
43. ↑ "Best Marketing Campaign of the Year". http://promaxpd.edgesuite.net/mm/flvmedia/1786/o/q/7/oq73h126_cui60y3w_h264_1676K.mp4?cid=1786&aid=3524314&afid=7451861&assetid=3524314.
44. ↑ Noclip (2018-03-19), Warframe Documentary (Part One) - The Story of Digital Extremes, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOE6528pwFc, retrieved 2018-10-08
45. ↑ "Top Employer: Digital Extremes Ltd.". https://content.eluta.ca/top-employer-digital-extremes.
46. ↑ Canada's Top 100 (September 19, 2011). "Canada's Top 100 Employers for Young People". Canadastop100.com. https://www.canadastop100.com/young_people/.
47. ↑ Canada's Top 100 (February 1, 2011). "Financial Post's Ten Best Companies To Work For". Canadastop100.com. http://www.canadastop100.com/fp10/.
48. ↑ Jody Lundrigan (September 16, 2010). "Twelve Ontario Businesses Named Winners of Business and Export Excellence". Ontario Chamber of Commerce. http://occ.on.ca/2010/twelve-ontario-businesses-named-winners-of-business-and-export-excellence/.
49. ↑ London Chamber of Commerce. "Business Achievement Awards – Business of the Year Hall of Fame". https://www.londonchamber.com/business-achievement-awards/.
50. ↑ London Free Press. "Celebrating City's Best". https://lfpress.com/news/london/2012/03/21/19533386.html/.
51. ↑ "Business Achievement Awards" (in en-US). https://www.londonchamber.com/2025baa/.

## External links

* Official website

* v
* t
* e

Video games developed by Digital Extremes

Developed|

* Solar Winds
* Silverball
* Epic Pinball
* Extreme Pinball
* Unreal
* Unreal Tournament
* Championship
* 2003
* 2004
* Adventure Pinball
* Pariah
* Warpath
* Dark Sector
* BioShock 2 (multiplayer)
* The Darkness II
* Warframe
* Star Trek
* Sword Coast Legends
* The Amazing Eternals

Ported|

* BioShock (PS3)
* Homefront (PC)

* v
* t
* e

Tencent

Services|

* Foxmail
* JOOX
* QQ
* QQLive
* Qzone
* Soso
* Tencent Maps
* Tencent Video
* Tencent Weibo
* WeBank
* WeChat (Red envelope)

Video gaming|

* Tencent Games
* Epic Games (40%)
* Grinding Gear Games (80%)
* TiMi Studios
* QQ Games
* Riot Games
* Radiant Entertainment
* Supercell (84%)
* Miniclip

Music|

* Tencent Music
* Universal Music Group (10%; major stakes owned by Vivendi)
* KuGou
* Ku Music Asian Music Awards
* QQ Music
* QQ Music Awards

Related|

* 360 v. Tencent
* Tencent Pictures
* New Classics Media

People|

* Ma Huateng
* Allen Zhang
* Tony Zhang
* Chen Yidan
* Chen Xiaonan

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