Liquid Entertainment was an American independent

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

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...

. The studio was founded in April 1999 by Ed Del Castillo and Mike Grayford.

History

Liquid Entertainment was founded in April 1999 by Ed Del Castillo and Mike Grayford. Liquid's first game was '' Battle Realms'', published by

Crave Entertainment Crave Entertainment (aka Crave Games) was an American video game publisher founded in 1997 by Nima Taghavi. Its headquarters was in Newport Beach, California. It was acquired by Handleman Company in 2005 in a deal valued up to $95,000,000 but w ...

in November 2001 to critical acclaim. ''Battle Realms'' is 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 ...

PC game for Windows that features an unconventional approach to resource management and unit development. It was well received by reviewers, many of whom praised its at-the-time state of the art 3D engine and East Asian-inspired setting and aesthetics but sale numbers were disappointing. It was also chosen for

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American Video game journalism, computer game magazine that was published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 199 ...

's Top 10 Games of E3 2001. ''Battle Realms'' was followed up with a stand-alone expansion pack, '' Battle Realms: Winter of the Wolf'' in April 2002. ''Winter of the Wolf'' was received with less enthusiasm than ''Battle Realms'' by the gaming community; some reviewers compared it unfavorably to 2002's blockbuster real-time strategy titles ''

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 ...

'' and ''

Age of Mythology ''Age of Mythology'' is a real-time strategy video game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was released on October 31, 2002 in North America and on November 14, 2002 in Europe. A spin-off from the ''A ...

''. Since the release of ''Winter of the Wolf'', Liquid has developed two real-time strategy PC games based on intellectual property licenses: In November 2003, Sierra released '' The Lord of the Rings: War of the Ring'', based on

Vivendi Universal Vivendi SE (stylized in all lowercase) is a French investment company headquartered in Paris. It currently wholly-owns Gameloft as well as a number of investments in several companies, primarily involved in content, entertainment, media, and t ...

's license to Tolkien's literary works, and in October 2005

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 ...

published the

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 ...

PC game '' Dragonshard''. ''Dragonshard'' has since been re-released on GOG.com. In October 2006, Buena Vista Games released '' Desperate Housewives: The Game'', a

life simulation Life simulation games form a subgenre of simulation video games in which the player lives or controls one or more virtual characters (human or otherwise). Such a game can revolve around "individuals and relationships, or it could be a simulation ...

computer game adaptation of the popular television series ''

Desperate Housewives ''Desperate Housewives'' is an American mystery comedy-drama television series created by Marc Cherry, and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. It aired for eight seasons on ABC from October 3, 2004, until May 13, 2012, for a tota ...

''. ''Desperate Housewives: The Game'' won ''

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 ...

'' Adventure Game of the Year for 2007. Liquid's next game ''

Rise of the Argonauts ''Rise of the Argonauts'' is a 2008 action role-playing game developed by Liquid Entertainment and published by Codemasters for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Although very much at variance with the story of Jason in the origin ...

'', released in December 2008 and published by

Codemasters The Codemasters Software Company Limited (trade name: Codemasters) is a British video game developer and former publisher based in Southam, England, which is a subsidiary of American corporation Electronic Arts and managed under the EA Sports ...

, is a

Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

-themed action

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, or abbreviated as RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out ...

for ''

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

'', ''

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...

'' 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 ...

'' that received mixed reviews, with criticisms centering on technical problems, derivative art direction and repetitive gameplay. In 2011

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 ...

published Liquid's second console game for Xbox 360 and PS3 '' Thor: God of Thunder'' that coincided with

Marvel Studios Marvel Studios, LLC, formerly known as Marvel Films, is an American film and television production company. Marvel Studios is the creator of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), a media franchise and shared universe of films and television ser ...

's release of the film ''

Thor Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...

'' in May 2011. In 2012 Liquid pivoted into developing casual games for

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

. They did some contract work on ''InstantJam'', a music rhythm game for Facebook, ''Deadline Hollywood: Game'' based on the popular Hollywood news blog ''

Deadline Hollywood ''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. It is updated several times a day, with en ...

'' by

Nikki Finke Nikki Jean Finke (December 16, 1953 – October 9, 2022) was an American blogger, journalist, publisher and writer. She also was the founder, editor-in-chief and president of ''Deadline Hollywood'', a website with original content consisting of ...

and

Paramount Digital Entertainment Paramount Digital Entertainment, Inc. (formerly known as Paramount Interactive) is a subsidiary of Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production c ...

for Facebook and iOS and ''Dungeons and Dragons: Heroes of Neverwinter'', a

turn-based strategy Strategy video game is a major video game genre that focuses on analyzing and strategizing over direct quick reaction in order to secure success. Although many types of video games can contain strategic elements, the strategy genre is most commo ...

game published by Atari on Facebook. Later in 2013 and 2014 they continued their pivot into mobile games with titles like ''Karateka'' (console and mobile), ''Cuddle Pets'', ''Paper Galaxy'', and ''

Max Steel ''Max Steel'' is a discontinued American media franchise produced and owned by the multinational company Mattel. Originally released as a line of action figures marketed from 1999 to 2022, the Max Steel name has expanded to live-action films, a ...

''. By the end of 2014, Ed decided to downsize Liquid to its current position as a holding company and consultancy; selling off some of its holdings, licensing some of its technology, and keep the rest for future opportunities. Liquid currently manages a number of properties that are available online and published ''Battle Realms: Zen Edition'' as

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 Software release life cycle, developm ...

Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

in December, 2019.

Games developed

Nominations

References

External links

*
''Liquid Entertainment''
on

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controlle ...

''Liquid Entertainment''
on GiantBomb {{Authority control American companies established in 1999 American companies disestablished in 2018 Defunct video game companies of the United States Video game companies established in 1999 Video game companies disestablished in 2018 Video game development companies Companies based in Pasadena, California 1999 establishments in California 2018 disestablishments in California Defunct companies based in Greater Los Angeles