Invoke Studios, formerly Tuque Games, is a Canadian

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

Montreal, Quebec, Canada Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pea ...

. The company was founded by Jeff Hattem, formerly of

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'', '' ...

and

Behaviour Interactive Behaviour Interactive Inc. is a Canadian video game development studio specializing in the production of 2D and 3D action/adventure games for home video game consoles, handheld game consoles, PCs and mobile. Based in Montreal, Canada, the compan ...

, in 2012. The company released its first game ''

Livelock In concurrent computing, deadlock is any situation in which no member of some group of entities can proceed because each waits for another member, including itself, to take action, such as sending a message or, more commonly, releasing a loc ...

'' in partnership with publisher

Perfect World Entertainment Perfect World Co., Ltd. ( zh, 完美世界股份有限公司) is a Chinese mass media company based in Beijing. It was founded in 2004 by Chi Yufeng. The company consists of two business segments: Perfect World Games, a video game publisher, an ...

in 2016. Tuque Games released a ''

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 ...

'' game called '' Dark Alliance'' in 2021.

History

Tuque Games was founded in 2012. began work on a

sci-fi Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universe ...

RPG titled World War Machine in 2014. They employed researchers from

nanotechnology Nanotechnology, also shortened to nanotech, is the use of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale for industrial purposes. The earliest, widespread description of nanotechnology referred to the particular technological goal o ...

and aerospace defense fields to help develop the game. Concept art for the game was created by Aaron Beck, known for work on ''

District 9 ''District 9'' is a 2009 science fiction mockumentary film directed by Neill Blomkamp in his feature film debut, written by Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, and produced by Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham. It is a co-production of New Zeala ...

'', '' Mad Max: Fury Road'', and ''

Elysium Elysium (, ), otherwise known as the Elysian Fields ( grc, Ἠλύσιον πεδίον, ''Ēlýsion pedíon'') or Elysian Plains, is a conception of the afterlife that developed over time and was maintained by some Greek religious and philos ...

'', while the story was done by Daniel H. Wilson, author of ''

Robopocalypse ''Robopocalypse'' (2011) is a science fiction novel by Daniel H. Wilson. The book portrays AI out of control when a researcher in robotics explores the capacity of robots. It is written in present tense. Writer Robert Crais and ''Booklist'' ha ...

''. World War Machine became the first submission accepted through the

Square Enix is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational holding company, production enterprise and entertainment conglomerate, best known for its ''Final Fantasy'', ''Dragon Quest'', ''Star Ocean'' and ''Kingdom Hearts'' role-playing video game ...

Collective in April 2014. World War Machine was renamed to

in 2016. It was the first buy-to-play game published by

. Tuque Games started developing a ''

'' game in partnership with

Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and List of science fiction themes, science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for ga ...

with a team of 12 in early 2017. On March 2019, the company announced that the ''

'' game was in development. Wizards of the Coast then acquired Tuque Games in October 2019. '' Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance'' was officially announced with a teaser trailer shown during

The Game Awards 2019 The Game Awards 2019 was an award show that honored the best video games of 2019. The event was produced and hosted by Geoff Keighley, creator and producer of The Game Awards, and was held to an invited audience at the Microsoft Theater in Los ...

on December 12, 2019. Tuque Games rebranded to Invoke Studios in late 2022.

Games

References

Video game development companies 2012 establishments in Quebec Canadian companies established in 2012 Video game companies established in 2012 Video game companies of Canada Wizards of the Coast Companies based in Montreal 2019 mergers and acquisitions {{Canada-videogame-company-stub