View source for Facepunch Studios

{{EngvarB|date=July 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2016}}
{{redirect|Garry Newman|the singer|Gary Numan}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Facepunch Studios Ltd
| logo = Facepunch Studios Logo.png
| type = [[Privately held company|Private]]
| foundation = {{Start date and age|df=yes|2004|06}}
| location_city = [[Walsall]]
| location_country = [[England]]
| key_people = Garry Newman, Craig Gwilt
| products = ''[[Garry's Mod]]'', ''[[Rust (video game)|Rust]]'', ''Chunks'',"Clatter"
| industry = [[Video game industry]]
| homepage = {{url|facepunch.com}}
| founder = Garry Newman
}}

'''Facepunch Studios Ltd''' is a British [[Indie game|independent]] [[video game developer|developer]] and [[video game publisher|publisher]] of [[video games]] headquartered in [[Walsall]], [[England]] founded in June 2004 and incorporated on 17 March 2009<ref name="ltd">{{Citation |url=https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/06848626 |title=FACEPUNCH STUDIOS LTD |work=[[Companies House]]}}</ref> by Garry Newman. The company is most known for its [[Nonlinear gameplay|sandbox]] video game ''[[Garry's Mod]]'' and [[survival game|survival]] game ''[[Rust (video game)|Rust]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://playrust.com |title=Play Rust |accessdate=18 March 2013}}</ref>

== History ==
Facepunch Studios was originally developed under the partnership of Garry Newman (born 20 May 1982), Matthew Schwenk, Bryn Shurman, and Arthur Lee for the video game ''Facewound'', in 2003. The group adopted Facepunch Studios as a company name to avoid looking "unprofessional" and to further the development of their side scroller; the Facepunch forum was also established.<ref>{{cite web|title=Web Archive, Facewound |url=http://www.facewound.com/?s=information |publisher=Web Archive |accessdate=3 April 2014 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070206025706/http://www.facewound.com/?s=information |archivedate=6 February 2007 }}</ref>

The name "Facepunch" came from the brainstorming of names for the game ''Facewound'' – where something "stupidly macho" was required. Two names were chosen at the end: Facepunch and Facewound. ''Facewound'' was used for the game, but Facepunch was deemed "too funny sounding to just leave to die" – and so was used as the name for the company.<ref name="The Facepunch Origins">{{cite web|last=Newman|first=Garry|title=Q&A|url=http://garry.tv/2012/12/26/where-did-the-name-facepunch-originate-from/|accessdate=3 April 2014}}</ref>

In 2004, Garry Newman started the development of ''Garry's Mod'', originally a side project, which eventually took over the Facewound forum as well as most of Newman's time. ''Facewound'' was later postponed and cancelled, and Facepunch Studio disbanded. ''Garry's Mod'' has become the flagship game of Facepunch Studios, and by November 2013 the game had sold 3.5&nbsp;million copies,<ref>{{cite tweet|user=garrynewman|author=Garry Newman|number=436914610340646912|date=21 February 2014|title=Garry's Mod has just broke $30,000,000 !}}</ref> regularly being one of the top played Steam games, having been released near [[Steam (software)|Steam]]'s inception.

The studio has 20 employees working on ''Rust'' and five people are working on prototypes like ''Deuce'' or ''Space Game''.<ref name="kotaku1">{{cite web|url=http://kotaku.com/some-fans-pissed-at-rust-creators-for-working-on-new-g-1612081402|title=Some Fans Pissed at Rust Creators For Working on New Game [UPDATE]|last=Narcisse|first=Evan|date=28 July 2014|work=[[Kotaku]]|publisher=[[Gawker Media]]|accessdate=28 July 2014}}</ref>

=== ''Garry's Mod'' ===
Garry Newman has not been formally trained as a computer programmer. ''Garry's Mod'' started out as a sandbox mode for tinkering in [[Valve Corporation|Valve]]'s [[Source (game engine)|Source engine]].<ref name="Garry on Garry's Mod">{{cite web|last=Totilo|first=Stephen|title=Kotaku's Garry Interview|url=http://kotaku.com/5676077/meet-garry-the-guy-who-re-made-how-we-re-make-pc-games/all|publisher=Kotaku Gaming|accessdate=3 April 2014}}</ref> Not truly considered a video game{{Citation needed|date=June 2018}}, and more of a playground, the game takes assets from Valve's own video games like ''[[Half-Life 2]]'', ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'', ''[[Portal (video game)|Portal]]'', etc., and allows users to pose them with different tools offered by ''[[Garry's Mod]]''. As of January 2016 the game has sold 10 million copies.<ref>{{cite tweet|user=garrynewman|author=Garry Newman|number=683353672311566336|date=2 January 2016|title=Jesus christ. GMod sold its ten millionth copy over new years.}}</ref>This game was based of a similar Half-Life 2 mod called JBMod which brought in the physgun into Half-Life 2. Garry was frustrated at JBMod's slow development and so created GMod. 

=== ''Rust'' ===
''[[Rust (video game)|Rust]]'' is an online multiplayer survival game, based on games such as ''[[Minecraft]]'' and ''[[DayZ (video game)|DayZ]]''. ''Rust''{{'}}s inception stemmed from Facepunch's frustration with ''DayZ''{{'}}s gameplay; inheriting its cruel player versus player model and ''Minecraft''{{'}}s crafting and building aspects.<ref name="Rust Official Website">{{cite web|title=About Rust|url=http://playrust.com/about/|publisher=Facepunch Studios|accessdate=3 April 2014}}</ref> ''Rust''{{'}}s grand concept was to develop a game where the players would be able to mold the environment: hunting, scavenging, gathering, and looting for survival; and players themselves impeding or assisting each other's success.<ref name="Rust's concepts">{{cite web|last=Kelly|first=Andy|title=Rust and player Freedom|url=http://www.pcgamer.com/2014/01/08/rust-interview/|publisher=PC Gamer|accessdate=3 April 2014}}</ref>

Although the game has been criticised for being too brutal, Facepunch Studios has intimated that an artificial scoreboard, encouraging players to "play nice", would be to the detriment of the game: "There shouldn't be a system hanging around forcing people to be good. It removes a lot of gameplay fun." 

''Rust'' sold over 150,000 copies in its first two weeks. ''Garry's Mod'', in comparison, only sold 34,000 in two weeks.{{cn|date=January 2018}} By 2017, it had sold over five million.<ref>{{cite web|title=Community Update 127|url=https://rust.facepunch.com/blog/community-update-127/|accessdate=3 July 2017|date=14 March 2017}}</ref> The game officially released out of early access in February 2018.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Newman|first1=Garry|title=Devblog 197|url=https://rust.facepunch.com/blog/devblog-197/|website=rust.facepunch.com|accessdate=4 April 2018}}</ref>

Facepunch officially stopped selling the Linux version of ''Rust'' in July 2018. Facepunch does still support the Linux version. <ref>{{cite web|title=Facepunch are no longer selling the Linux version of the survival game Rust (updated)|url=https://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/facepunch-are-no-longer-selling-the-linux-version-of-the-survival-game-rust.12236|website=gamingonlinux.com|accessdate=27 July 2018}}</ref>

=== ''Before'' ===

On 24 September 2014, Garry Newman announced that Facepunch Studios would be taking on ''Before'' to develop. ''Before'' is being created by Bill Lowe under the company.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.facepunchstudios.com/2014/09/24/before/ |title=Before |publisher=Facepunch Studios |first=Garry |last=Newman |date=24 September 2014 |accessdate=31 December 2014}}</ref>

On 21 February 2019 Bill Lowe from Facepunch, who previously worked on the game, confirmed on twitter that the game project had been cancelled. <ref>https://www.onlysp.com/prehistoric-survival-game-before-has-been-cancelled/</ref>

== Games ==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Title
!Year
!Genre
!Platform
|-
|''Facewound''
|2003
|[[Shoot 'em up]]
|[[Microsoft Windows]]
|-
|''[[Garry's Mod]]''
|2004
|[[Nonlinear gameplay|Sandbox]]
|Microsoft Windows, [[OS X]], [[Linux]]
|-
|''Chunks''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://chunks.facepunch.com/|title=Chunks - Information|website=playchunks.com|accessdate=22 August 2017}}</ref>
|2016
|
|Microsoft Windows
|-
|''[[Rust (video game)|Rust]]''
|2013

|[[Survival horror|Survival]]
|Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux
|-
|Clatter
|2018
|Turn-based, Strategy
|Microsoft Windows
|-
|Chippy
|2019
|Action, Indie
|Microsoft Windows
|-
|''Before''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.beforegame.net|title=Before - Home|website=www.beforegame.net|accessdate=22 August 2017}}</ref>
|Cancelled
|Survival
|Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux
|-
|''Ruin''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ruin.facepunch.com|title=Home - Ruin|website=ruin.facepunch.com|accessdate=21 March 2018}}</ref>
|Abandoned
|Survival RPG
|Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux
|-
|''Deuce''
|Abandoned/Cancelled<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.facepunchstudios.com/2014/07/30/deuce-devblog-1/|title=Facepunch - Home|website=www.facepunchstudios.com|accessdate=22 August 2017}}</ref>
|[[Sports game|Tennis]]
|Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux
|-
|''Arcade''
|Abandoned/Cancelled<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.facepunchstudios.com/2014/08/29/arcade-devblog-1/|title=Facepunch - Home|website=www.facepunchstudios.com|accessdate=22 August 2017}}</ref>
|
|Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux
|-
|''Troubleshooter''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://playtroubleshooter.com/2016/01/22/troubleshooter/|title=Troubleshooter - Information|website=playtroubleshooter.com|accessdate=22 August 2017}}</ref>
|Abandoned/Cancelled<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.facepunchstudios.com/2014/08/07/formerly-known-as-riftlight-devblog-3/|title=Facepunch - Home|website=www.facepunchstudios.com|accessdate=22 August 2017}}</ref>
|[[Shoot 'em up|Arcade shooter]]
|Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux
|-
|''Absorb''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.facepunchstudios.com/2016/08/17/absorb-1/|title=Facepunch - Home|website=www.facepunchstudios.com|accessdate=22 August 2017}}</ref>
|Abandoned/Cancelled
|Action, Survival
|Microsoft Windows
|-
|''Sandbox (S&Box)''
|In development
|Sandbox
|Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux
|}

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
* {{Official website|www.facepunchstudios.com}}
* [http://garry.tv/ Garry Newman's personal blog]

[[Category:Companies based in the West Midlands (county)]]
[[Category:Companies established in 2004]]
[[Category:Internet forums]]
[[Category:Video game companies of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Video game development companies]]
[[Category:Walsall]]