Relic entertainment
| Relic entertainment
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|---|---|
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| legal form | Sega subsidiary |
| founding | 1997 ( Vancouver , British Columbia ) |
| Seat | Vancouver , Canada |
| management | Tarrnie Williams , general manager; Jonathan Dowdeswell, executive producer |
| Branch | Software & programming, game development |
| Website | www.relic.com |
Relic Entertainment is a Canadian company that specializes in the development of computer games from the genre of 3D real-time strategy and has already published several innovative titles for the PC.
history
Relic was founded in 1997 in Vancouver, British Columbia , Canada by Alex Garden and Luke Moloney . Her first title, Homeworld , was a huge international success. Although they did not immediately continue working and developing sequels under the license from Homeworld, there was an offshoot: Homeworld: Cataclysm , which was developed by Barking Dog Studios and published by Sierra Entertainment , the publisher who owned the rights.
Relic's next title was Impossible Creatures , which was produced and published by Microsoft in 2002 . It is set in a fictional setting in the 1930s and the player can create units from different anatomical parts of animals. While the game was successful, it didn't get the same amount of attention as Homeworld .
In September 2003 the sequel Homeworld 2 was released. Although it came up with improved graphics, game mechanics and new features, it was not as well received by the critics as its predecessor.
On April 27, 2004, publisher THQ announced that it would acquire Relic for nearly $ 10 million . The acquisition was completed in early May 2004.
Then, on September 20, 2004, Relic released Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War , an RTS game based on the license from Games Workshop's famous Warhammer 40,000 . The game was a success, with critics praising it for its innovative resource management and squad-based interface.
Continuing the success of Dawn of War , Relic released an add-on on September 19, 2005 called Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War: Winter Assault . The expansion added a fifth playable race, the Imperial Army, and expanded the existing factions with new units. While the expansion was successful, it wasn't as significant as the main game.
Relic's first foray into the gaming console world , The Outfit , was released on March 13, 2006 for the Xbox 360 . It wasn't very successful and was criticized for its weak single player modes.
On September 11th, 2006 Company of Heroes was released, an RTS set in World War II that used Relic's new Essence Engine . This in-house engine has many next generation graphic effects, including HDR and dynamic glow, and uses the Havok physics engine. The game was extremely successful and won many awards from various game magazines and websites.
Soon after, on October 9, 2006, a second stand-alone add-on for Dawn of War was released. Dark Crusade brought a lot of new things: two new races (The Necrons and the Tau ), new units for the existing races and a turn-based campaign, as well as much needed rebalancing and the adaptation of some game elements. Since the game was stand-alone , the player didn't need the original Dawn of War or the Winter Assault add-on to enjoy all the features of the game (except in multiplayer games). Dark Crusade was still successful, but many reviewers noted that it was overshadowed by the Company of Heroes' success . Still, Dark Crusade won many awards (Best Add-on 2006).
In collaboration with Iron Lore Entertainment ( Titan Quest ), Relic has developed a third expansion for Dawn of War , which was released on March 7, 2008. Dawn of War: Soulstorm can be played independently and in conjunction with the base game Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War, has two new armies (the Dark Eldar and the Sisters of Battle) and air units can be used for the first time.
On September 28, 2007, Opposing Fronts was released, the stand-alone add-on to Company of Heroes . With it, two new playable armies were introduced, the British 2nd Army and the German Panzer Elite.
There has also been speculation about Relic's repurchase of Vivendi's Homeworld rights , but there has never been any official confirmation.
After the bankruptcy of the parent company THQ, Relic Games was taken over by the Japanese publisher Sega at an auction on January 23, 2013 along with the license to Company of Heroes for 26 million US dollars .
Publications
- Homeworld (1999)
- Impossible Creatures (2002)
- Homeworld 2 (2003)
- Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War (2004)
- Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War: Winter Assault (2005)
- The Outfit (2006)
- Company of Heroes (2006)
- Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War: Dark Crusade (2006)
- Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts (2007)
- Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War: Soulstorm (March 2008)
- Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II (February 2009)
- Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor (April 2009)
- Company of Heroes: Online (2009-2010)
- Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II Chaos Rising (March 2010)
- Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II Retribution (March 2011)
- Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine (September 2011)
- Company of Heroes 2 (June 2013)
- Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 3 (April 2017)
- Age of Empires IV
Prices
- Best Developer, IGN.com Best of 2006 Awards
literature
- Relic Entertainment In: Winnie Forster : Lexicon of the computer and video game makers. First edition, p. 268. ISBN 978-3-00-021584-1 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.pcgames.de/Company-of-Heroes-Online-PC-217209/News/Company-of-Heroes-Online-Entwickler-Brian-Wood-bei-Verkehrsunfall-getoetet-771086/
- ↑ Sebastian Jäger: SEGA takes over Relic, Koch Media Volition and Metro, Ubisoft South Park * Update * . In: Gamona . Webguidez Entertainment. January 23, 2013. Retrieved January 24, 2013.
- ↑ [1]