Squanch Games (formerly known as Squanchtendo) is an American

video game development Video game development (or gamedev) is the process of developing a video game. The effort is undertaken by a developer, ranging from a single person to an international team dispersed across the globe. Development of traditional commercial PC ...

studio based in Burbank, California. The company was founded by Justin Roiland in August 2016. The studio is most known for developing '' Accounting'' (2016), '' Trover Saves the Universe'' (2019) and '' High on Life'' (2022). The company has offices in

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southe ...

, and Burbank, California.

Company

Justin Roiland, the co-creator and voice actor behind the ''

Rick and Morty {{Infobox television , image = Rick and Morty title card (cropped).png , alt = , caption = , genre = {{Plainlist, * Animated sitcom * Adult animation * Science fiction * Black comedy * ...

'' series, founded Squanchtendo on August 25, 2016, in partnership with Tanya Watson, who previously worked as an executive producer at Epic Games. Roiland previously worked on '' Pocket Mortys'', a mobile game in the ''Rick and Morty'' franchise, in conjunction with

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim'' and often abbreviated as s'') is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programmed by its in-house ...

. He formed the studio with the intention of developing

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), e ...

games, a passion he had since 2015, being one of the earliest backers for the

Oculus Rift Oculus Rift is a discontinued line of virtual reality headsets developed and manufactured by Oculus VR, a division of Meta Platforms, released on March 28, 2016. In 2012 Oculus initiated a Kickstarter campaign to fund the Rift's development, af ...

virtual reality headset. Roiland first met Watson through Ophir Lupu,

United Talent Agency United Talent Agency (UTA) is a global talent agency based in Beverly Hills, California. Established in 1991, it represents artists and other professionals across the entertainment industry. , the company has more than 1,400 global employees. U ...

's head of games. Watson, using her contacts at Epic Games, helped the studio to expand and recruit talents. "Squanch" is a planet in the ''Rick and Morty'' franchise, while "tendo" is a

wordplay Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, phon ...

of video game publisher Nintendo, though the company changed its name in 2017 to just "Squanch Games" after being advised by a lawyer. The studio's first game was '' Accounting'', a VR exploration game released in 2016. The game was developed in collaboration with Crows Crows Crows and William Pugh, the designer of ''

The Stanley Parable ''The Stanley Parable'' is a story-based video game designed and written by developers Davey Wreden and William Pugh. The game carries themes such as choice in video games, the relationship between a game creator and player, and predestination ...

''. An expanded version of the game, ''Accounting+'', which doubles the length of the original game, was released in December 2017. In August 2018, the company acquired the trademark for ''Radical Heights'', a defunct battle royale game, from

Boss Key Productions Boss Key Productions, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in April 2014 by Cliff Bleszinski and Arjan Brussee, formerly of Epic Games, the company developed '' LawBreakers'' (2017) and ''Radical ...

. The studio then went on to work on ''Dr. Splorchy Presents: Space Heroes'', a project for

Google Daydream Daydream is a discontinued virtual reality (VR) platform which was developed by Google, primarily for use with a headset into which a smartphone is inserted. It is available for select phones running the Android mobile operating system (versio ...

, and '' Trover Saves the Universe''. Unlike the studio's previous games, which was considered to be a more experiential project, ''Trover Saves the Universe'' is "significant in length experience". While ''Trover'' features VR component, it is not a requirement as the team wanted the game to reach a larger audience. The game was released in 2019 to generally positive reviews. In January 2021, Watson left the studio, and Roiland assumed the position of the company's

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

. The company's latest video game is '' High on Life'', a comedic

first-person shooter First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the p ...

released in December 2022.

Legal issues

In January 2023, it was revealed a former employee sued Squanch Games back in 2018 over alleged sexual harassment, discrimination, and wrongful termination. According to court documents, the studio denied the claims but later settled. Later that month, Squanch Games announced that Justin Roiland had resigned from his position at the studio.

Games developed

References

External links

* {{Justin Roiland Companies based in Burbank, California Video game development companies 2016 establishments in California Video game companies based in California Video game companies established in 2016 Indie game developers