HB Studios was founded in early July 2000 by Jeremy Wellard in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.[1] The company started with nine employees and developed Cricket 2002 for Electronic Arts.[2] The studio entered a multi-project deal with EA Canada in 2004 to continue developing sports games for the EA Sports label, including further games in the Rugby and Cricket series, FIFA Street 2 for the PlayStation Portable as well as co-development on Madden 07 for the Wii. This exclusivity deal ended in 2007.[3]
In 2008, HB Studios opened a second studio in Halifax, Nova Scotia. At the time, the company had 130 employees.[4] The Halifax studio was closed at the end of July 2012 with all development moved to the headquarters in Lunenberg. The last games developed by the satellite studio were NBA Baller Beats for Xbox 360 and Medal Bound for iOS.[5] A publishing label, HB Arcade, was formed in 2009 with the goal of self-publishing downloadable titles on WiiWare, PlayStation Network, and Xbox Live Arcade. Games released under this label included HB Arcade Cards and HB Arcade Disc Golf, both for WiiWare, as well as Jam Space for DSiWare.[6]
HB Studios was acquired by 2K in March 2021 and will continue to work on PGA Tour games. 2K also secured a long-term contract with Tiger Woods to use his likeness for these games as well as to serve as executive producer and consultant for the series.[10]
