Private company

Double Helix Games

Logo: The logo is from the following website: https://techcrunch.com/2014/02/05/amazon-acquires-video-gaming-studio-double-helix-games/, Non-free logo, via Wikipedia3

American video game developer

Double Helix Games was an American video game developer based in Irvine, California, founded in October 2007 through the merger of The Collective and Shiny Entertainment, two studios owned by Foundation 9 Entertainment. Double Helix was acquired by Amazon and integrated into Amazon Game Studios in February 2014.2 It employed 75 people.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

2007Founded1
  • Industryvideo game industry1
  • HeadquartersIrvine1

Double Helix Games was an American video game developer based in Irvine, California, founded in October 2007 through the merger of The Collective and Shiny Entertainment, two studios owned by Foundation 9 Entertainment. Double Helix was acquired by Amazon and integrated into Amazon Game Studios in February 2014.2

The story

Double Helix Games was formed as the result of a merger between The Collective and Shiny Entertainment, two video game developers owned by Foundation 9 Entertainment. Shiny had been acquired by Foundation 9 in October 2006 under the terms that it would co-locate with the already-owned The Collective. On October 9, 2007, it was announced that both studios had relocated to new 60,000-square-foot (5,600 m2) offices in Irvine, California, and were being merged, which was expected not to result in any job losses. The amalgam, led by Michael Persson, received the name "Double Helix Games" in March 2008.

In July 2009, as part of a round of consolidations within Foundation 9, Double Helix suffered an undisclosed number of staff cuts. On February 5, 2014, Double Helix announced that it had been acquired by retailing company Amazon. The studio was integrated into the Irvine location of the retailer's Amazon Game Studios division, which had been established in 2012. Microsoft Studios, the publisher of Double Helix's Killer Instinct, stated that it would be working with a new development partner to continue development on the game.

From Wikipedia’s article on Double Helix Games, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Products and brands

Canceled

Harker (2008)

From Wikipedia’s article on Double Helix Games, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Subsidiaries and ownership

Owners

Former owners and parents

From Wikidata.1

Acquisitions

  1. Succeeded Shiny Entertainment1
  2. Succeeded The Collective1

Timeline

  1. Feb 2014Acquired Acquired by Amazon Game Studios1
  2. 2014Acquired Acquired by Amazon1
  3. 2014Dissolved Dissolved1
  4. 2007Acquired Acquired by Foundation 9 Entertainment1
  5. 2007Founded Founded1