Croteam is a Croatian video game developer based in Zagreb. The company was established by Davor Hunski, Damir Perović, Roman Ribarić and Dean Sekulić, four former classmates, in late August 1992. Croteam is best known for Serious Sam, a series of first-person shooters introduced with Serious Sam: The First Encounter in 2001. The company also developed the 2014 puzzle game The Talos Principle and its 2023 sequel The Talos Principle 2. Croteam employed approximately 40 people in 2020 and was acquired by its long-time publishing partner Devolver Digital in October 2020. The company is currently an entity of ABEST d.o.o.
History
thumb|right|[[Chief creative officer Davor Hunski (left) and chief technology officer Alen Ladavac at the 2015 Game Developers Conference]]
Croteam was founded by Davor Hunski, Damir Perović, Roman Ribarić, and Dean Sekulić. The game was released by the publisher's surviving German branch in 1996 before that branch shut down as well.
In 2007, development began on Serious Sam 3: BFE, a prequel to the original game. In 2010, Croteam released high definition remakes of the original Serious Sam games with upgraded textures and models, enhanced engine, user interface and audio, and additional features. Serious Sam 3: BFE was released for Windows in November 2011, soon followed by macOS and Linux versions. The Xbox 360 version of Serious Sam 3: BFE was released on Xbox Live Arcade in September 2012, and later made its way to PlayStation 3 via PlayStation Network in March 2014.
Ladavac left Croteam to join Google's Munich-based branch in October 2019 and work on the Stadia project.
Serious Engine 3 was used to support the high-definition remakes of The First Encounter and The Second Encounter for release on Windows and Xbox 360, adding in true high-dynamic lighting support. As Croteam wanted to target more platforms with the release of Serious Sam 3: BFE, Serious Engine 3 was heavily reworked to support seventh-generation consoles, and became Serious Engine 3.5. With the introduction of eighth-generation consoles, Croteam continued to improve the Serious Engine, releasing it as Serious Engine 4, which premiered with The Talos Principle. Serious Engine was also used in Serious Sam 4.
In celebration of Serious Sam: The First Encounter 15th anniversary in March 2016, Croteam released the source code for the final version of the first iteration of Serious Engine, version 1.10, under the GNU GPL-2-0-only.
Games developed
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|-
! scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Title
! scope="col" | Platform(s)
! scope="col" | Publisher(s)
|-
! scope="row" | 1994
| Football Glory
| Amiga, MS-DOS
| Black Legend
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2" | 1996
| Save the Earth
| rowspan="2" | Amiga
|
|-
| Five-A-Side Soccer
| Black Legend
|-
! scope="row" | 2001
| Serious Sam: The First Encounter
| rowspan="3" | Windows, Xbox
| rowspan="2" | Gathering of Developers, Gotham Games
|-
! scope="row" | 2002
| Serious Sam: The Second Encounter
|-
! scope="row" | 2005
| Serious Sam 2
| 2K Games
|-
! scope="row" | 2009
| Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter
| rowspan="2" | Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Stadia, Windows, Xbox 360, Xbox One
| rowspan="14" | Devolver Digital
|-
! scope="row" | 2010
| Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter
|-
! scope="row" | 2011
| Serious Sam 3: BFE
| Linux, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Stadia, Windows, Xbox 360, Xbox One
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2" | 2014
| Sigils of Elohim
| Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Windows
|-
| The Talos Principle
| Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Stadia, Windows, Xbox One
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="5" | 2017
| Serious Sam VR: The First Encounter
| rowspan="2" | Linux, Windows
|-
| Serious Sam VR: The Second Encounter
|-
| Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope
| Windows
|-
| The Talos Principle VR
| rowspan="2" | Linux, Windows
|-
| Serious Sam 3 VR: BFE
|-
! scope="row" | 2020
| Serious Sam 4
| Stadia, Windows, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5
|-
! scope="row" | 2023
| The Talos Principle 2
| rowspan="2" | PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox Series X/S
|-
! scope="row" | 2025
|The Talos Principle: Reawakened
|-
! scope="row" | 2027
| The Talos Principle 3
| PlayStation 5, Windows
|}
Games co-produced
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|-
! scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Title
! scope="col" | Platform(s)
! scope="col" | Developer(s)
! scope="col" class="unsortable" |
|-
! scope="row" | Cancelled
| Evil's Doom
| rowspan="2" | Amiga
| Olympia Software
|
|-
| Serious Sam: Tormental
| rowspan="2" | Windows
| Gungrounds
|
|-
! scope="row" | 2025
| Scum
| Gamepires
|
|}