''Mohawk Games'' is an American

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

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, known for releasing the

strategy video game Strategy is a major video game genre that emphasizes thinking and planning over direct instant action in order to achieve victory. Although many types of video games can contain strategic elements, as a genre, strategy games are most commonly defi ...

s ''

Offworld Trading Company ''Offworld Trading Company'' is a real-time strategy (RTS) video game developed by Mohawk Games and published by Stardock. The game was released for Microsoft Windows and OS X in April 2016. Gameplay ''Offworld Trading Company'' is a science fict ...

'' and ''

Old World The "Old World" is a term for Afro-Eurasia that originated in Europe , after Europeans became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia, which were previously thought of by the ...

''.

History

Mohawk games was co-founded in 2013 by

Firaxis Firaxis Games, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Sparks, Maryland. The company was founded in May 1996 by Sid Meier, Jeff Briggs and Brian Reynolds following their departure from MicroProse, Meier's earlier venture. They were ...

veterans

Soren Johnson Soren Johnson (born May 23, 1976) is an American video game designer and programmer. Johnson's games primarily belong to 4X strategy, with a number of his titles having been critically acclaimed. He is best known for his work as a lead designer ...

and Dorian Newcomb. The studio is based in

Hunt Valley, Maryland Hunt Valley is an unincorporated community in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States, near the site of the Maryland Hunt Cup Steeplechase. It lies just north of the city of Baltimore, along York Road (Maryland Route 45), parallel to Intersta ...

, home to several video game studios that could trace their lineage back to

Microprose MicroProse is an American video game publisher and video game developer, developer founded by Bill Stealey, Sid Meier, and Andy Hollis in 1982. It developed and published numerous games, including starting the ''Civilization (series), Civilizatio ...

from the 1980s, a studio that itself had veterans who formed Firaxis. The studio was founded as part of the Stardock strategic investment fund to promote strategy game development. According to later President Leyla Johnson, "the small studio once comprised solely white men" early in its foundation, as part of an industry trend in the early 2010s. The studio's first effort was an economic

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

called ''

'', for the PC. Johnson has said that he prefers developing for the PC because of the lack of gatekeepers. The game was published by Stardock Entertainment. ''Offworld Trading Company'' featured music from

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

-award-winning composer

Christopher Tin Christopher Chiyan Tin (born May 21, 1976) is an American composer of art music, often composed for film and video game soundtracks. His work is primarily orchestral and choral, often with a world music influence. He has won two Grammy Awar ...

, an old roommate of Soren Johnson who also provided the soundtrack for

Civilization IV ''Civilization IV'' (also known as ''Sid Meier's Civilization IV'') is a 4X turn-based strategy computer game and the fourth installment of the ''Civilization'' series, and designed by Soren Johnson under the direction of Sid Meier and his vid ...

. ''Offworld Trading Company'' entered

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 ...

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 ...

program in 2015, and was eventually released in 2016, earning a 78 on aggregate review website

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. After the successful launch, Brad Wardell, who has served as President stepped down and promoted Dorian Newcomb as President. In 2018, Mohawk announced a new strategy game published by Starbreeze called ''10 Crowns'', a title which they later changed to ''

''. Mohawk used ''Old World'' as an opportunity to improve on Johnson's work on '' Civilization 3'', focusing on AI and diplomacy that would feel more immersive and less like a game. In 2019, their Sweden-based publisher encountered financial issues, and sold the rights to Mohawk's upcoming game back to them. Soren Johnson stepped down as CEO and was succeeded by Leyla Johnson, who prioritized greater gender equity at the studio and in the broader game industry. By 2020, the studio had announced that it had successfully diversified their team and published a code of conduct. The studio released ''Old World'' in 2021, leading

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 ...

to name the game the best strategy game of 2021.

Tom Chick Tom W. Chick (born August 14, 1966) is an American actor and independent journalist. His most prominent TV roles were as Oscar's boyfriend Gil in the U.S. version of ''The Office'', and the hard-hitting reporter Gordon in ''The West Wing''. Ear ...

, editor of Quarter to Three, named Old World his top game of 2021, it was named best history game of 2021 by History Respawned and won two prizes at NYX Game Awards 2021.

Games developed

References

External links

* {{official website, https://mohawkgames.com/ 2013 establishments in Maryland American companies established in 2013 Companies based in Baltimore County, Maryland Video game companies established in 2013 Video game companies of the United States Video game development companies