Aquiris Game Studio (2007)
The Brazilian Studio that Revived 16-Bit Racing with Horizon Chase and Became Epic Games Brasil
Founded in 2007 in Porto Alegre, Brazil by Amilton Diesel, Mauricio Longoni, and Israel Wallauer, Aquiris Game Studio established itself as one of Latin America's premiere independent developers. Renowned for creating Horizon Chase—an acclaimed homage to 16-bit arcade racers like Top Gear and Out Run featuring composer Barry Leitch—the studio was acquired in 2023 by Epic Games to establish Epic Games Brasil.
Honoring Brazil's Top Gear Obsession with Barry Leitch
In Brazil during the 1990s, the Super Nintendo arcade racer Top Gear held immense cult status. Aquiris harnessed this nostalgia by designing Horizon Chase with bright geometric low-poly aesthetics and classic horizon-scaling physics. Critically, Aquiris recruited veteran Scottish composer Barry Leitch to create an energetic, authentic 16-bit synth soundtrack, propelling the title to global acclaim.
Apple Arcade Acclaim and Epic Games Acquisition
Following the success of Horizon Chase Turbo across consoles and their Apple Arcade sandbox adventure Wonderbox, Epic Games invested in the studio in 2022 before fully acquiring it in April 2023. Renamed Epic Games Brasil, the Porto Alegre team became Epic's first first-party development studio in Latin America, focusing on core content development within Fortnite.