Masters of Amiga, Worms, and Evolution – the Story of Team17
Banana bombs and holly grenades raised a whole generation of players, for whom an afternoon without a game of Worms was a lost afternoon. Worms are possibly one of the most significant video games ever, and their creators from Team17 have quite a story.
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Independence incubator
Much like in late 1990s, Team17 needs changes to survive the second decade of the 21st century. This time, they started from the inside: Debbie Bestwick acquired the shares of Michael Robinson and Martin Brown, which made Bestwick the only person responsible for the managing the company's activities (just for sake of reminders: the remaining founding members are Tadic, Tuleby and Holmes, but they are developers, not the businessmen).
With full control, Debbie Bestwick decided to put the company on a new, old track. She founded a new division of the company that was to become an incubator for young talent. In addition, Team17 was to reorient their efforts on the digital market, releasing smaller and cheaper games, also developed by independent teams.
And yes, between the subsequent (and, fortunately, two-dimensional) installments of Worms, Team17 also published Sheltered or Light, among others. Changes over time proved very profitable, the company was even able to seize a few gems from third-party developers. The Escapists (2015) was quite a success for an indie game, a lot of hype was also brought by Overcooked (2016) and Yooka-Laylee (2017). The studio that developed The Escapists was purchased by Team17 shortly after the game's success, becoming part of the company.
Once again, the team exhibited excellent orientation and adapted to changing circumstances. Despite Amiga being dead, and Worms being mostly remembered by older fans, Team17 is still alive and kicking. Currently, the company follows the course set several years ago, focusing on expanding its portfolio of indie games and acquiring new talent. It's not the Activision-Blizzard sort of behemoth, but Team17 is very consistent with observing the strategy, and increases its size and revenue every year.
Since 2018, Team17 has been publicly listed, and Debbie Bestwick, who owns 22.2% of the shares, is currently one of the most influential women in the industry. Of the six founders, she is currently alone on this ship – Andreas Tadic, Rico Holmes, Peter Tuleby, Michael Robinson, and Martin brown gradually left the company, until Bestwick was the last one standing.
And while the new path of Team17 has little in common with Worms, which has now become just another franchise in their catalog, the game and the company will forever remain a single entity in my books. With the magic of banana bombs, concrete donkeys, and homing pigeons. With a demo that I spent more time in, and had much better fun with, than the excellent majority of full games.
