Syndicate (2012 video game)

Syndicate
Developer(s)Starbreeze Studios
Publisher(s)Electronic Arts
Director(s)Neil McEwan
Producer(s)Jeff Gamon
Designer(s)Andrew Griffin
Programmer(s)Otto Kivling
Fred Gill
Artist(s)Nicholas Siren
John Miles
Writer(s)Richard K. Morgan
Composer(s)Gustaf Grefberg
SeriesSyndicate
EngineUnion Engine
Platform(s)
Release
  • NA: 21 February 2012
  • EU: 24 February 2012
Genre(s)First-person shooter
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Syndicate is a 2012 cyberpunk first-person shooter video game developed by Starbreeze Studios and published by Electronic Arts. The game was released for PlayStation 3, Windows, and Xbox 360 in February 2012.

Syndicate (2012) is a reboot of the Syndicate series of real-time tactics games developed by Bullfrog Productions. Set in the year 2069, the narrative revolves around Miles Kilo, a EuroCorp agent who must eliminate important personnel from rival corporations; in the process, he discovers the evil, secret practice used by EuroCorp to recruit agents. The game features a large variety of weapons; from standard pistols to the futuristic guns. Kilo is implanted with a computer chip that allows him to access the dataverse and can use hacking to defeat enemies and solve environmental puzzles.

Pre-production of Syndicate began in 2007. Electronic Arts approached Starbreeze Studios to revive the franchise because it was impressed with the quality of Starbreeze Studios' previous games and believed they could add "style" to the series. The game was returned to the drawing board after a year of development, and the co-operative multiplayer mode was added to the main game. The development team hoped the game would appeal to both newcomers and players of the original game; they maintained the theme of the original and drastically changed the gameplay. Richard K. Morgan was hired to write the story for the game.

Syndicate received mixed reviews from critics upon release. Critics praised the gameplay, style, graphics, art direction, artificial intelligence and the co-operative mode, but the game's story was criticized. The game was a commercial failure for the publisher. Its excessive violence led to the game being banned in Australia.