Piranha Games

Piranha Games Inc. is a Canadian video game developer based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company was founded by two members Russ Bullock, President and Executive Producer and Bryan Ekman, VP and Creative Director. Piranha Games is one of the oldest independent game developers in the Vancouver area and currently housed in the International Village Mall in the Chinatown area.

During the fall of 1999 three entrepreneurs set out to create a Half-Life mod called Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza (DH:NP) (originally started by Jason Holtslander). After working together for a few months the team received a letter from Fox Interactive requiring all work on the mod cease and desist. Russ, Bryan and Jason used this event as a catalyst to pursue their dreams of starting a new development studio and turning Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza into a full product for the PC platform.

Piranha Games Inc. was officially founded in early 2000 by Russ Bullock, Bryan Ekman, and Jason Holtslander, with an initial infusion of private funding. After an 8-month period of creating demos for Fox Interactive, a deal was struck in August 2000, and Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza was officially under production.

Work began in earnest on DH:NP mid August, 2000. The team doubled in size from six developers to twelve and moved into its new office location in Downtown Vancouver. Production on DH:NP moved along steadily through the winter and into 2001 in preparation for E3 2001. After a modest E3 showing, DH:NP continued development, targeting a fall release date. Crunching hard for the next 6 months, with the team exhausted and the ownership at odds with each other, the game's ship date slipped into spring 2002. During the summer and fall of 2001 Jason Holtslander was bought out by the remaining principals.