Liquid Entertainment was an American independent

video game developer A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large ...

based in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. I ...

. The studio was founded in April 1999 by

Ed Del Castillo Edward Del Castillo is the Founder, Executive President, and Chief Creative Officer of Liquid Entertainment. Career Origin Systems Prior to founding Liquid, he served as Senior Producer for Lord British Studios and Firaxis within Origin Systems. ...

and Mike Grayford.

History

Liquid Entertainment was founded in April 1999 by

and Mike Grayford. Liquid's first game was ''

Battle Realms ''Battle Realms'' is a real-time strategy video game published and released by Crave Entertainment and Ubi Soft in November 2001. It was the first game created by Liquid Entertainment. An expansion pack '' Battle Realms: Winter of the Wolf'' was ...

'', published by

Crave Entertainment Crave Entertainment was an American video game publisher founded in 1997 by Nima Taghavi. Its headquarters was in Newport Beach, California. It was acquired by Handleman Company in 2005 in a deal valued up to $95,000,000 but was then sold to Fil ...

in November 2001 to critical acclaim. ''Battle Realms'' is a

real-time strategy Real-time strategy (RTS) is a Video game genre, subgenre of strategy video games that do not progress incrementally in turn-based game, turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time". By contrast, in Turn-based strategy, turn ...

PC game for Windows that features an unconventional approach to resource management and unit development. It was well received by reviewers, many of whom praised its at-the-time state of the art 3D engine and East Asian-inspired setting and aesthetics but sale numbers were disappointing. It was also chosen for

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American computer game magazine published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 1993. It expanded greatly through ...

's Top 10 Games of E3 2001. ''Battle Realms'' was followed up with a stand-alone expansion pack, '' Battle Realms: Winter of the Wolf'' in April 2002. ''Winter of the Wolf'' was received with enthusiasm by the ''Battle Realms'' by the gaming community; some reviewers compared it favorably to 2002's blockbuster real-time strategy titles ''

Warcraft III ''Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos'' is a high fantasy real-time strategy computer video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment released in July 2002. It is the second sequel to ''Warcraft: Orcs & Humans'', after ''Warcraft II: Tides ...

'' and ''

Age of Mythology ''Age of Mythology'' (''AoM'') is a real-time strategy video game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was released on October 30, 2002, in North America and a week later in Europe. A spin-off from the '' ...

''. Since the release of ''Winter of the Wolf'', Liquid has developed two real-time strategy PC games based on intellectual property licenses: In November 2003, Sierra released '' The Lord of the Rings: War of the Ring'', based on

Vivendi Universal Vivendi SE is a French mass media holding company headquartered in Paris. Widely known as the owner of Gameloft, Groupe Canal+, Havas, Editis, Prisma Media, Vivendi Village and Dailymotion, the company has activities in television, film, video ...

's license to Tolkien's literary works, and in October 2005

Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc. (1972–1992), Atari, Inc., ...

published the

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...

PC game ''

Dragonshard ''Dungeons & Dragons: Dragonshard'' is a real-time strategy role-playing video game, developed for Microsoft Windows by Liquid Entertainment, and published by Atari in September 2005. It takes place in Eberron, one of the official ''Dungeons ...

''. ''Dragonshard'' has since been re-released on

GOG.com GOG.com (formerly Good Old Games) is a digital distribution platform for video games and films. It is operated by GOG sp. z o.o., a wholly owned subsidiary of CD Projekt based in Warsaw, Poland. GOG.com delivers DRM-free video games through it ...

. In October 2006,

Buena Vista Games Disney Interactive Studios, Inc. was an American video game developer and publisher owned by The Walt Disney Company through Disney Interactive. Prior to its closure in 2016, it developed and distributed multi-platform video games and interact ...

released '' Desperate Housewives: The Game'', a

life simulation Life simulation games form a subgenre of simulation video games in which the player lives or controls one or more virtual characters (human or otherwise). Such a game can revolve around "individuals and relationships, or it could be a simulation ...

computer game adaptation of the popular television series ''

Desperate Housewives ''Desperate Housewives'' is an American comedy-drama soap opera television series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Marc Cherry, Cherry Productions. It aired for eight seasons on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from Octobe ...

''. ''Desperate Housewives: The Game'' won ''

PC Gamer ''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games ma ...

'' Adventure Game of the Year for 2007. Liquid's next game '' Rise of the Argonauts'', released in December 2008 and published by

Codemasters The Codemasters Software Company Limited (trade name: Codemasters) is a British video game developer based in Southam, England, which is a subsidiary of American corporation Electronic Arts. Founded by brothers Richard and David Darling in Octo ...

, is a

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...

-themed action

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

for ''

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

'', ''

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

'' and ''

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...

'' that was well received for its technical merits, art direction and gameplay. In 2011

Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

published Liquid's second console game for Xbox 360 and PS3 '' Thor: God of Thunder'' that coincided with

Marvel Studios Marvel Studios, LLC (originally known as Marvel Films from 1993 to 1996) is an American film and television production company that is a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, a division of the Walt Disney Company. Marvel Studios produces the Mar ...

's release of the film ''

Thor Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred groves ...

'' in May 2011. In 2012 Liquid pivoted into developing casual games for

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

. They did some contract work on ''InstantJam'', a music rhythm game for Facebook, ''Deadline Hollywood: Game'' based on the popular Hollywood news blog ''

Deadline Hollywood ''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. The site is updated several times a day, with ...

'' by

Nikki Finke Nikki Jean Finke (December 16, 1953 – October 9, 2022) was an American blogger, journalist, publisher, and writer. She was a consultant to Penske Business Media LLC and senior editorial contributor for PBM run by media owner Jay Penske. She f ...

and

Paramount Digital Entertainment Paramount Digital Entertainment, Inc. (formerly known as ''Paramount Interactive'') was a subsidiary of Paramount Pictures that developed and distributed movies and video games digitally via various platforms including online, mobile, virtual real ...

for Facebook and iOS and ''Dungeons and Dragons: Heroes of Neverwinter'', a

turn-based strategy A turn-based strategy (TBS) game is a Strategy video game, strategy game (usually some type of wargaming, wargame, especially a wargaming#Unit or map scale, strategic-level wargame) where players take Time-keeping systems in games, turns when pla ...

game published by Atari on Facebook. Later in 2013 and 2014 they continued their pivot into mobile games with titles like ''Karateka'' (console and mobile), ''Cuddle Pets'', ''Paper Galaxy'', and ''

Max Steel Max Steel is a line of action figures produced and owned by the toy company Mattel since 1999. The original figures based on the first TV series were similar to the original 12-inch G.I. Joe toys, consisting almost entirely of different versio ...

''. By the end of 2014, Ed decided to downsize Liquid to its current position as a holding company and consultancy; selling off some of its holdings, licensing some of its technology, and keep the rest for future opportunities. Liquid currently manages a number of properties that are available online and published ''Battle Realms:Zen Edition'' as

Early Access Early access, also known as alpha access, alpha founding, paid alpha, or game preview, is a funding model in the video game industry by which consumers can purchase and play a game in the various pre-release development cycles, such as pre-alph ...

Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

Games developed

* ''

'' (2001), published by

and

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Assassin's Creed'', ''Far Cry'', '' ...

** 2002 nomination in "PC Strategy" category for The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) awards * '' Battle Realms: Winter of the Wolf'' (2002), published by Crave Entertainment and Ubisoft * '' The Lord of the Rings: War of the Ring'' (2003), published by

Sierra Entertainment Sierra Entertainment, Inc. (formerly On-Line Systems and Sierra On-Line, Inc.) was an American video game developer and publisher founded in 1979 by Ken and Roberta Williams. The company is known for pioneering the graphic adventure game genre, ...

* '' Dungeons & Dragons: Dragonshard'' (2005), published by

* '' Desperate Housewives: The Game'' (2006), published by

** 2007 nomination in "Outstanding Achievement in Character Performance – Female" category for the AIAS awards * '' Rise of the Argonauts'' (2008), published by

* '' Thor: God of Thunder'' (2011), published by

*''Instant Jam: Facebook'' (2012), published by

GarageGames GarageGames was a game technology and software developer. GarageGames was the parent company of GG Interactive, developers of educational technology in the areas of computer science, video game development and programming. In addition, the compa ...

* ''Deadline Hollywood: The Game'' (2012), published by

* ''Dungeons and Dragons: Heroes of Neverwinter'' (2012), published by

* ''Paper Galaxy'' (2012), published by Liquid Entertainment, LLC *''

Karateka (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...

'' (2013), published by Karateka, LLC *''Cuddle Pets'' (2013), published by Digital Capital *''

'' (2014), published by

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in more ...

References

External links

Liquid Entertainment's website''Liquid Entertainment''
on

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...

''Liquid Entertainment''
on

GiantBomb ''Giant Bomb'' is an American video game website and wiki that includes personality-driven gaming videos, commentary, news, and reviews, created by former ''GameSpot'' editors Jeff Gerstmann and Ryan Davis. The website was voted by ''Time'' mag ...

{{Authority control American companies established in 1999 American companies disestablished in 2018 Defunct video game companies of the United States Video game companies established in 1999 Video game companies disestablished in 2018 Video game development companies Companies based in Pasadena, California 1999 establishments in California 2018 disestablishments in California Defunct companies based in Greater Los Angeles