Firefly Studios

Factsheet

Developer:
Firefly Studios
Based in London, England

Founding date:
August 1999

Website:
fireflyworlds.com

Press / Business Contact:
pr@fireflyworlds.com

Social:
YouTube
Bluesky
Facebook
TikTok
Discord

Releases:
Stronghold Legends
Space Colony
Romans Age Of Caesar
Stronghold Crusader 2
Stronghold HD
Stronghold Kingdoms
Stronghold Crusader Definitive Edition
Stronghold 3
MetaMorph
Stronghold 2
Stronghold Warlords
Stronghold Definitive Edition
Stronghold Crusader HD

Address:
Thomas House
84 Eccleston Square
London
SW1V 1PX

Description

Firefly Studios is a BAFTA nominated developer and publisher of strategy video games, forged in 1999 amidst the golden era of the RTS genre. As a company Firefly values and benefits from individual expression and passion, channeling this into deep, systems-driven experiences custom made for strategy gamers worldwide. Firefly is best known for the Stronghold series, with lifetime sales of over 13 million.

History

Co-founders Simon Bradbury and Eric Ouellette first met in the 90s at Impressions Games. Working together on titles like Lords of the Realm and Caesar, the pair eventually decided to establish Firefly in 1999. Aiming to merge the City Builder and Real-Time Strategy genres, without sacrificing the fun or depth of either, Stronghold was released in 2001 to critical acclaim.

The game was a surprise hit for Take Two in North America and Germany in particular, with critics praising Stronghold’s unique premise, British charm and playability. A year later Firefly released Stronghold: Crusader which shifted the game's setting from medieval England to the Middle East, alongside a more fast-paced RTS experience and unique economic gameplay.

Seven years and seven games later Firefly quickly prototyped and released a closed Alpha for Stronghold Kingdoms, the studio’s first foray into massively multiplayer gaming. Over the course of the next two years Kingdoms’ player base grew from tens to hundreds of thousands. The game entered open beta in 2010, launched on Steam in 2012 and eventually mobile platforms in 2017. It would remain in the Top 10 Most Popular free-to-play games on Steam for years and is still played by 100,000 monthly active users, more than 15 years after its initial release.

Following the successful releases of Stronghold Crusader 2 and Stronghold: Warlords, Firefly Studios were acquired by publisher Devolver Digital in 2021. In the following years Stronghold series veterans Paul Harris and Nick Tannahill were made Studio Heads and a new wave of games from Firefly began to emerge.

Combining Firefly's desire to revisit classic isometric 2D strategy with their fan's longing for an experience reminiscent of the first two Stronghold games, work began on a remaster inspired by their RTS peers. Through the collaborative efforts of one veteran coder, designer, artists and returning voice actors, Firefly released Stronghold: Definitive Edition in 2023.

At launch Stronghold: Definitive Edition became a critical and commercial success for Firefly, with fans applauding a return to the series’ roots. It topped the global Top Sellers chart as one of Steam's Top Releases of November 2023, with over 100,000 sales in the first 72 hours. The game garnered a 'Very Positive' Steam user score and one of the highest Metacritic ratings in the Stronghold series, with almost 10,000 fans playing concurrently at launch.

Released in 2025, Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition followed and once again broke records for the series. Launching as one of Steam's Top Releases in July, Crusader sold a quarter of a million units in just three weeks. With a Steam user score of over 90% and peak concurrent player count of over 16,000 fans, players were thrilled with the additions of new units, characters and co-op gameplay.

Today work continues on a new entry in the Stronghold series made in Unreal Engine, as well as Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition updates and ongoing support for Stronghold Kingdoms.

Projects

• Stronghold Legends
• Space Colony
• Romans Age Of Caesar
• Stronghold Crusader 2
• Stronghold HD
• Stronghold Kingdoms
• Stronghold Crusader Definitive Edition
• Stronghold 3
• MetaMorph
• Stronghold 2
• Stronghold Warlords
• Stronghold Definitive Edition
• Stronghold Crusader HD

Team & Repeating Collaborators

Contact

Enquiries
pr@fireflyworlds.com

Support Services
firefly-studios.helpshift.com

Bluesky
fireflystudios.bsky.social

Facebook
facebook.com/fireflystudios

Web
fireflyworlds.com