Invoke Studios, formerly Tuque Games, is a Canadian

video game developer A video game developer is 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 business with em ...

based in

Montreal, Quebec, Canada Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. 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 '' Anno'', '' Assassin's Creed'', ' ...

and

Behaviour Interactive Behaviour Interactive Inc. (stylized as "bEHAVIOUR", sometimes shortened to "BHVR") is a Canadian video game developer and publisher based in Montreal. The studio is best known for the multiplayer horror game '' Dead by Daylight''. History The co ...

, 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 lock. ...

'' in partnership with publisher

Perfect World Entertainment Arc Games Inc. (formerly known as Perfect World Entertainment and Gearbox Publishing San Francisco), is an American video game publisher. Founded in 2008 as the North American branch of the Chinese company Perfect World, they currently operate ...

in 2016. Tuque Games released a ''

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

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

History

Tuque Games was founded in 2012. began work on a

sci-fi Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

RPG RPG may refer to: Military * Rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-launched anti-tank weapon **''Ruchnoi Protivotankoviy Granatomyot'' (Russian: ''Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт''), hand-held anti-tank grenade laun ...

titled World War Machine in 2014. They employed researchers from

nanotechnology Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter with at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometers (nm). At this scale, commonly known as the nanoscale, surface area and quantum mechanical effects become important in describing propertie ...

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 action 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 Zealand ...

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

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

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

Robopocalypse ''Robopocalypse'' is a 2011 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, video game publisher and entertainment conglomerate. It releases role-playing video game, role-playing game franchises, such as ''Final Fantasy'', ''Dragon Quest'', and '' ...

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 (WotC or Wizards) is an American game Publishing, publisher, most of which are based on fantasy and List of science fiction themes, science-fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail game stores. In 1999, toy ...

with a team of 12 in early 2017. In 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

{{Hasbro 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