Early iPhone hitmaker Cobra Mobile has closed after 20 years.
According to a report in local newspaper The Courier, the closure of the iBomber maker means its eight staff have been made redundant.
The Dundee, Scotland-based studio was among the first UK developers to score a big hit on iPhone with iBomber in 2010. It followed that with several more iBomber titles and physics platformer Storm in a Teacup.
It later released more arcade-style titles like Let’s Go Rocket in 2015 and puzzle adventure Red’s Kingdom in 2017. It also developed a series of sports games under the Cobi brand that included darts, archery, basketball and golf.
Most recently, Cobra developed and released an Apple Arcade game, first person adventure Towers of Everland, which was later released as a premium title. The Dundee outfit also released games on Steam and on Switch.
“It has been a really sad combination of events,” Cobra director and founder Mark Ettle told The Courier. “There is the recent sudden death of our chairman Peter Mackintosh. We have had clients go bankrupt on us during projects, leaving us hugely in debt.”
“There has been a downturn in the sector, which has made it harder for us to operate moving forward with the roadmap we wanted to follow,” added Ettle. “This has all hit us at the same time. It is really sad, but it has been a fun ride too for the last 20 years.”
The news follows cuts at fellow Dundee-based mobile game outfit Outplay, which shed 21 staff last week.
