Wargaming Seattle, formerly known as Gas Powered Games, was a

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 ...

located in

Redmond, Washington Redmond is a city in King County, Washington, United States, located east of Seattle. The population was 73,256 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Redmond is best known as the home of Microsoft and Nintendo of America. The city h ...

. The development studio was started in May 1998 by Chris Taylor and several other ex-

Cavedog Entertainment Cavedog Entertainment was a video game developer, PC game developer and publisher based in Bothell, Washington. Founded in 1995 as a Division (business), division of edutainment game developer Humongous Entertainment, Cavedog was known for the ...

employees. In 2013 they became the Seattle studio of

Wargaming A normal wargame is a strategy game in which two or more players command opposing armed forces in a simulation of an armed conflict. Wargaming may be played for recreation, to train military officers in the art of strategic thinking, or to st ...

. Wargaming Seattle was closed down in July 2018.

History

Gas Powered Games was formed in May 1998 by Chris Taylor, alongside Jake McMahon, Bartosz Kijanka, Mike Biddlecombe, and Rick Saenz. Their launch title was the 2002 3D

role-playing video game Role-playing video games, also known as CRPG (computer/console role-playing games), comprise a broad video game genre generally defined by a detailed story and character advancement (often through increasing characters' levels or other skills) ...

Dungeon Siege ''Dungeon Siege'' is an action role-playing game developed by Gas Powered Games and published by Microsoft in April 2002 for Microsoft Windows and the following year by Destineer for Mac OS X. Set in the pseudo-medieval kingdom of Ehb, the high ...

'',

published Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

Microsoft Game Studios Xbox Game Studios (previously known as Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Game Studios, and Microsoft Games) is an American video game publisher based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, spun out from an internal Games Group, fo ...

. Apart from its custom

graphics engine Rendering is the process of generating a photorealistic or non-photorealistic image from input data such as 3D models. The word "rendering" (in one of its senses) originally meant the task performed by an artist when depicting a real or imag ...

, it also featured simple and innovative role-playing rules and mechanics that made it stand out from a market already crowded with sword and sorcery/fantasy role-playing games. In 2003 Gas Powered released a stand-alone

expansion pack An expansion pack, expansion set, supplement, or simply expansion, is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game, video game, collectible card game or Miniature wargaming, miniature wargame. An expansion may introduce new rules ...

for the game, '' Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna''. The expansion was co-developed by

Mad Doc Software Rockstar New England, Inc. (formerly Mad Doc Software, LLC) is an American video game developer and a studio of Rockstar Games based in Andover, Massachusetts. Ian Lane Davis founded the company as Mad Doc Software in November 1999 after worki ...

and again published by

. In August 2005, Gas Powered released its sequel to ''Dungeon Siege'', ''

Dungeon Siege II ''Dungeon Siege II'' is an action role-playing video game, the sequel to 2002's ''Dungeon Siege''. It was developed by Gas Powered Games and released in 2005. The story is a continuation of the ''Dungeon Siege'' storyline. An expansion '' Broke ...

''. In March 2006,

Take-Two Interactive Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in New York City founded by Ryan Brant in September 1993. The company owns three major Imprint (trade name), publishing labels, Rockstar Games, Zynga and 2K ...

purchased the full publishing rights of the Dungeon Siege series, ending the four-year Microsoft partnership with Gas Powered Games. GPG released '' Supreme Commander'', a

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

game in February 2007, published by

THQ THQ Inc. was an American video game company based in Agoura Hills, California. It was founded in April 1990 by Jack Friedman, originally in Calabasas, and became a public company the following year through a reverse merger takeover. Initial ...

. Announced in the August 2005 issue of

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 m ...

magazine, Chris Taylor touted ''Supreme Commander'' as the spiritual successor to ''

Total Annihilation ''Total Annihilation'' is a science fiction real-time strategy video game released in September 1997 for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS by Cavedog Entertainment and distributed internationally by GT Interactive. Two expansion packs were released ...

'' as ''Total Annihilation'' remains the

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French holding company Atari SA (formerly Infogrames) and its focus is on "video games, consumer hardware, licensing and bl ...

. As a stand-alone expansion, '' Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance'' was announced in June 2007, for a November release. In May 2007, Gas Powered Games announced a partnership with

Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...

to work on an original role-playing game. On July 6, 2007, the game was announced as '' Space Siege''. The game was released on August 12, 2008 to generally middling reviews. In January 2008, Gas Powered Games announced a new project, ''

Demigod A demigod is a part-human and part-divine offspring of a deity and a human, or a human or non-human creature that is accorded divine status after death, or someone who has attained the "divine spark" (divine illumination). An immortality, immor ...

'', to be released sometime in early 2009. It is an action role-playing and real-time strategy video game, a hybrid inspired by the ''

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: Ti ...

'' mod

Defense of the Ancients ''Defense of the Ancients'' (''DotA'') is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) mod (video gaming), mod for the video game ''Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos'' (2002) and its expansion, ''The Frozen Throne'' (2003). The objective of the game is ...

. ''Demigod'' was released on 14 April 2009 in the U.S. On November 12, 2008,

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 '' ...

announced that it would be partnering with Gas Powered Games to create ''

Supreme Commander 2 ''Supreme Commander 2'' is a real-time strategy (RTS) Military science fiction video game developed by Gas Powered Games and published by Square Enix as the sequel to '' Supreme Commander''. A Windows-only demo was initially released via Steam o ...

''. The game was released in March 2010 for the PC and

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the Xbox (console), original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detail ...

, with a version for

Mac OS X macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

following in September 2010. On February 24, 2011, it was announced that Gas Powered Games would be taking over development on the upcoming

game ''

Age of Empires Online ''Age of Empires Online'' was a multiplayer online real-time strategy game developed by Robot Entertainment and Gas Powered Games that was released on August 16, 2011. Based upon the gameplay of the ''Age of Empires'' series, it was originally de ...

'', replacing

Robot Entertainment Robot Entertainment is an American video game developer and publisher based in Plano, Texas. Its founders previously founded Ensemble Studios, which was shut down by Microsoft. Other members of the company founded another studio, Bonfire Studio ...

on the project. Gas Powered Games announced plans to create a real-time strategy game named '' Chris Taylor's Kings and Castles'', which would use the game engine from ''Supreme Commander 2'', however it never released and was cancelled by the studio's shutdown in 2018. On January 4, 2013, it was noted in an ''

'' blog post that Gas Powered Games would no longer be supporting the game. Approximately two weeks prior to this announcement, Gas Powered Games put up a teaser web site announcement for a 'Project W' On January 14, 2013, Gas Powered Games announced the

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

project "Wildman", declared to be "an 'evolutionary' action role-playing game". Four days later on January 18, Gas Powered Games had to lay off roughly 40 employees, with the ultimate fate of the company riding on the Kickstarter campaign. On Feb 11, 2013, Gas Powered Games canceled their Kickstarter project "Wildman", four days before it was due to finish, announcing that they wanted to "focus

heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offi ...

attention on other ways to keep Gas Powered Games running"

Acquisition

Three days after canceling project "Wildman",

announced that they were in talks to buy Gas Powered Games. The company was acquired in February 2013. Gas Powered Games was absorbed into Wargaming to become Wargaming Seattle, which ended Gas Powered Games as an independent studio.

Dissolution

On May 23, 2018, Victor Kislyi, the head of Wargaming, announced to the studio that it would be closed down, laying off roughly 150 developers. The studio was officially closed on July 22.

GPGnet

GPGnet was an online gaming service run by the company. It was used with '' Supreme Commander'', '' Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance'', ''

'', ''

'', and '' Space Siege''.

Games

References

{{Authority control Defunct companies based in Redmond, Washington Video game companies established in 1998 Video game companies disestablished in 2018 Defunct video game companies of the United States Video game development companies Defunct companies based in Washington (state) American subsidiaries of foreign companies