--- title: Elixir Studios | daily.dev description: Elixir Studios was a London-based video game developer founded in 1998 by Demis Hassabis, known for Republic: The Revolution and Evil Genius. The studio... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/elixir-studios-11fknrv9j twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Elixir Studios | daily.dev og:description: Elixir Studios was a London-based video game developer founded in 1998 by Demis Hassabis, known for Republic: The Revolution and Evil Genius. The studio... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/elixir-studios-11fknrv9j og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/11FknrV9j.png og:image:alt: Elixir Studios og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Elixir Studios **[Awesome Elixir](https://daily.dev/sources/awelix)** · 11 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Elixir Studios was a London-based video game developer founded in 1998 by Demis Hassabis, known for Republic: The Revolution and Evil Genius. The studio pursued original, AI-driven, simulation-focused games rather than licensed content, but closed in 2005 after a major project was cancelled amid a risk-averse publishing climate. Rebellion Developments later acquired its IP, releasing Evil Genius 2 in 2021. Hassabis went on to co-found DeepMind, later acquired by Google, crediting lessons from Elixir's high-risk, innovation-driven culture. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Who founded Elixir Studios and what did he do afterward? Demis Hassabis founded Elixir Studios in London in 1998 after working at Lionhead Studios. Following Elixir's closure in 2005, he co-founded DeepMind Technologies in 2010, an artificial intelligence company that Google acquired in 2014. Hassabis has credited lessons from running the high-risk, innovation-driven Elixir team as formative for his later AI work. _Readers tracing how game industry veterans moved into AI research can follow related stories on daily.dev._ ### Why did Elixir Studios close in 2005? Elixir Studios closed in 2005 after cancelling a major project deemed too high-risk, following roughly two years of development. The company cited an increasingly risk-averse publishing climate that left no room for small independent developers pursuing original ideas, though it had enough resources to pay staff redundancy and wind down in an orderly manner. _Anyone studying studio shutdowns and publisher risk aversion can find similar industry retrospectives on daily.dev._ ### What happened to Evil Genius after Elixir Studios shut down? Rebellion Developments acquired the rights to Evil Genius and Elixir's other intellectual properties in March 2006. The original game had built a cult following for its humor, 1960s spy-fi theme, and base-building mechanics, which led Rebellion to release a sequel, Evil Genius 2: World Domination, in 2021. _Fans tracking IP acquisitions and game revivals can follow similar studio legacy stories on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Three Epic veterans are building an AI-powered game engine to break the industry's doom cycle](https://daily.dev/posts/three-epic-veterans-are-building-an-ai-powered-game-engine-to-break-the-industry-s-doom-cycle-uwtvx1wfm) · GamesIndustry.biz · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [New Studio Formed by Ex-Sanzaru Developers After Meta Closure](https://daily.dev/posts/new-studio-formed-by-ex-sanzaru-developers-after-meta-closure-bogen2mwp) · 80 LEVEL · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [The next great game may not come from a million-dollar studio](https://daily.dev/posts/the-next-great-game-may-not-come-from-a-million-dollar-studio-gkujpi1yc) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Ex-Radical Entertainment, Hothead Games devs form new studio](https://daily.dev/posts/ex-radical-entertainment-hothead-games-devs-form-new-studio-fnwrbctcc) · Game Developer · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#ai](https://daily.dev/tags/ai), [#gaming](https://daily.dev/tags/gaming) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/elixir-studios-11fknrv9j) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Elixir Studios","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/elixir-studios-11fknrv9j","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/elixir-studios-11fknrv9j"},"datePublished":"2026-10-01T20:49:31.547Z","dateModified":"2026-10-01T20:50:22.530Z","description":"Elixir Studios was a London-based video game developer founded in 1998 by Demis Hassabis, known for Republic: The Revolution and Evil Genius. 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