Rebellion Ltd was a British video game developer based in Derby. Founded in May 1988 by former Gremlin Graphics employees, it originally bore the name Megabrite until rebranding as Core Design in October the same year. The company was acquired by umbrella company CentreGold in December 1994, which in turn was acquired by Eidos Interactive in April 1996. Following the latter acquisition, Core Design was re-organised as a subsidiary of Eidos Interactive, while other CentreGold components were either closed or sold off. In May 2006, the Core Design personnel and assets were acquired by Rebellion Developments, and the company became Rebellion Derby, which was then shut down in March 2010.
History
Beginnings (1988–1994)
Based in the city ofDerby, England, Core Design was founded in 1988 by Chris Shrigley, Andy Green, Rob Toone, Terry Lloyd, Simon Phipps, Dave Pridmore, Jeremy Heath-Smith, Kevin Norburn and Greg Holmes. Most were former employees of Gremlin Graphics. The studio was part of distribution company CentreGold when it was acquired by Eidos Interactive in 1996. Heath-Smith regarded the acquisition as a relief, commenting, "The funding of development is so expensive that I doubt we could have continued to fund ourselves as an independent company." Eidos subsequently sold most of CentreGold, but retained U.S. Gold, the owners of Core Design.
Acquisition by CentreGold, ''Tomb Raider'' (1994–2003)
The company is widely known for the Tomb Raider series. The first game was created by Toby Gard and Paul Douglas, released in 1996, and followed by several sequels. The success of the first Tomb Raider has been credited with making Eidos Interactive a major force in the industry, and turned Eidos's 1996 pretax loss of $2.6 million into a $14.5 million profit. In September 1997, Sony Computer Entertainment's U.S. arm, SCEA, signed an exclusivity deal with Eidos to keep the franchise on their consoles. The agreement was extended to include Tomb Raider III. Fourth and fifth games in the franchise, and Tomb Raider Chronicles respectively, followed.
''Tomb Raider'' IP loss (2003–2006)
After the critical failure of in 2003, parent company Eidos put Crystal Dynamics, another Eidos-owned studio, in charge of Tomb Raider franchise development. This prompted key members of the Core Design management team and several others to leave the company and establish a development company of their own, Circle Studio.
Sale to Rebellion Developments and closure (2006–2010)
In May 2006, Eidos announced that independent developer Rebellion Developments had acquired Core Designs' assets and staff, while the Core brand and intellectual property, including Tomb Raider, remained in Eidos' possession. In June 2006, Crystal Dynamics was confirmed to have a PSP anniversary edition of the original Tomb Raider in development. Remnants of the Core Design team went on to work on several titles in years since, including and Rogue Warrior. Starting in January 2010, due to an expiring lease on Rebellion Derby's offices, Rebellion Developments started seeking restructuring opportunities for the studio. As no other possibility than closure was found, Rebellion Derby was closed down effective on 17 March 2010.
