''Loot Drop'' was a

social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives from ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

studio A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design, ...

that was started in

San Mateo, California San Mateo ( ; ) is a city in San Mateo County, California, on the San Francisco Peninsula. About 20 miles (32 km) south of San Francisco, the city borders Burlingame, California, Burlingame to the north, Hillsborough, California, Hillsboro ...

. It was created by

John Romero John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Seco ...

and

Brenda Romero Brenda Louise Romero (née Garno, born October 12, 1966), previously known as Brenda Brathwaite, is an American game designer and developer in the video game industry. She was born in Ogdensburg, New York and is a graduate of Clarkson University ...

with veteran

game designer Game design is the art of applying design and aesthetics to create a game for entertainment or for educational, exercise, or experimental purposes. Increasingly, elements and principles of game design are also applied to other interactions, in ...

Tom Hall Tom Hall is an American game designer best known for his work with id Software on titles such as '' Doom'' and '' Commander Keen''. Career Hall attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he earned a B.S. in Computer Science. In 19 ...

heading up his own game. Its tagline was "Believe in fun".

Formation

After creating the megahit social game, Ravenwood Fair, John and Brenda Romero left

Lolapps Lolapps was a developer and publisher of social games on the Facebook platform. Lolapps was best known for creating Ravenwood Fair with John Romero which had 25 million players worldwide. In 2011, Lolapps merged with social games publisher 6wav ...

to co-found Loot Drop and begin making social games. Due to the success of ''Ravenwood Fair'', several companies were interested in signing a game development and publishing deal with them.

RockYou RockYou was a company that developed widgets for MySpace and implemented applications for various social networks and Facebook. Since 2014, it has engaged primarily in the purchases of rights to classic video games; it incorporates in-game ads an ...

was the first publisher to get to contract. The game that John Romero was developing was titled ''Cloudforest Expedition''. Four months into development, RockYou signed a second development deal with Loot Drop. The studio got funding for ''Cloudforest Expedition'' from social game publisher

in 2011. Within a year, Loot Drop had four titles in development with multiple social game publishers. Romero stated that he wanted to focus on

game design Game design is the art of applying design and aesthetics to create a game for entertainment or for educational, exercise, or experimental purposes. Increasingly, elements and principles of game design are also applied to other interactions, in ...

rather than monetizing players. The studio was stated to have four teams that would grow to 10 or 11 employees each.

Studio closing

The studio encountered financial trouble in 2012, with the game '' Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Commander'' being cancelled only five months after launch. This resulted in that development team being laid off. They failed to fund a

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, K ...

campaign for an "Old-School RPG". Loot Drop continued developing games until the end of 2015. In its existence, it had developed games for

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted th ...

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'', ...

, Mogol, and

Zynga Zynga Inc. () is an American developer running social video game services. It was founded in April 2007, with headquarters in San Mateo, California. The company primarily focuses on mobile and social networking platforms. Zynga states its missio ...

References

External links

*{{official, rome.ro/loot-drop Video game development companies Video game companies based in California Video game companies established in 2010 Video game companies disestablished in 2015 2010 establishments in California 2015 disestablishments in California Companies based in San Mateo, California Privately held companies based in California Defunct video game companies of the United States