Neversoft Entertainment

Neversoft Entertainment at a Glance

Neversoft Entertainment operated as a developer based in Woodland Hills, California from 1994 until their final release in 2013. Founded by Joel Jewett, Mick West, and Chris Ward, the studio initially worked with Playmates Toys on Skeleton Warriors before moving on to projects for Crystal Dynamics and Sony Computer Entertainment that were eventually cancelled. Activision acquired the company in October 1999, marking a shift toward larger scale productions. They released 18 games during their active years without publishing any titles themselves. Their output was heavily concentrated in the 2000s with 13 releases, while they produced only 3 games in the 1990s and a single title in the 2010s. The studio focused primarily on sports and music genres, accounting for 12 of their 18 projects. They also developed three shooters and three adventure titles. Their work spanned many systems, with the PlayStation 2 seeing 11 of their games, followed by nine PC releases and seven titles each for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Other platforms included the Wii, GameCube, Mac, original Xbox, PlayStation, and Dreamcast. Quality trends show a mostly positive reception with an average IGDB rating of 71.8 across 16 rated titles. They achieved two great scores and twelve good ones, while two games received mixed ratings. No titles fell into the poor category. Their highest rated game was Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 from 2001 with a score of 85. Guitar Hero: Metallica followed closely at 84.1, and Tony Hawk's Underground 2 scored 79.8 in 2004. Later entries like Guitar Hero World Tour and Guitar Hero 5 maintained scores near or above 76. Even their final release, Call of Duty: Ghosts in November 2013, received a respectable 69.4 score. Band Hero from late 2009 scored 73.1, showing they could sustain quality across different franchises before the studio's activity ceased.

Release Timeline

Rating Distribution