For the first time ever, the Smithsonian National History Museum is helping produce a PC game — and it’s partnering with a Seattle game company to do so.
The Smithsonian and Big Fish are working together to create a PC and Mac game based on the Smithsonian’s Hope Diamond, known to many as the most famous diamond in the world.
The game, set to debut next month, is called “Hidden Expedition: Smithsonian Hope Diamond,” and will become part of Big Fish’s “Hidden Expedition,” series that allow gamers to explore different scenes and lands to find hidden objects and solve puzzles.
“Smithsonian is excited to be working with game developer Big Fish and their
Hidden Expedition games,” Smithsonian Enterprises Carol Le Blanc said in a statement. “This collaboration allows Smithsonian to highlight one of its most iconic treasures, the Hope Diamond, in a unique way, to a new audience. Players will be amazed by the artistry of the game, the puzzles and the way historical information is incorporated into the game.”
The Seattle casual game maker laid off 49 employees in Seattle this past August and closed its operations in Cork, Ireland and Vancouver, B.C. It also pulled the plug on its cloud-based gaming business, a service that it launched to much fanfare at the Casual Connect conference in Seattle last summer.
Those layoffs came amid record revenues for the company, but also a radically changing marketplace in which players are shifting to mobile and free-to-play games.
