S2 Games was a

video game development company 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 ...

which was founded by Marc "Maliken" DeForest, Jesse Hayes, and Sam McGrath, based in

Rohnert Park, California Rohnert Park is a city in Sonoma County, California, United States, located approximately north of San Francisco. The population at the 2020 United States Census was 44,390. It is an early planned city and is the sister city of Hashimoto in ...

. They also had a development location in

Kalamazoo, Michigan Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in the southwest region of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Kalamazoo County. At the 2010 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 74,262. Kalamazoo is the major city of the Kalamazoo-Portage Metropol ...

History

Their first project (a

real-time strategy Real-time strategy (RTS) is a subgenre of strategy video games that do not progress incrementally in turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time". By contrast, in turn-based strategy (TBS) games, players take turns to pla ...

third-person shooter Third-person shooter (TPS) is a subgenre of 3D shooter games in which the gameplay consists primarily of shooting. It is closely related to first-person shooters, but with the player character visible on-screen during play. While 2D shoot ...

and

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, 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 these roles within ...

hybrid), '' Savage: The Battle for Newerth'', was released in the Summer of 2003. They released its sequel, '' Savage 2: A Tortured Soul'', on January 16, 2008, and are independently publishing and distributing it. Their third installment in the ''Savage'' series, ''

Heroes of Newerth ''Heroes of Newerth'' (''HoN'') was a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game originally developed by S2 Games for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. The game idea was derived from the '' Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne'' custom m ...

'', based heavily around ''

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

'', was released on May 12, 2010. In 2015, S2 Games sold the rights to ''Heroes of Newerth'' to

Garena Garena is a Singaporean game developer and publisher of free online games. It is the digital entertainment arm of parent company Sea Ltd, which was formerly named Garena. The company distributes game titles on Garena+ in various countries a ...

to focus on ''

Strife Strife may refer to: Mythology *Eris (mythology), in Greek mythology the goddess of discord, whose name means 'strife' *Bellona (goddess), Roman counterpart of Eris, and a war goddess *Enyalius, a son of Eris and god of strife * Tano Akora, god of ...

'', their second-generation MOBA. Garena subsequently moved ''Heroes of Newerth'' to

Frostburn Studios Garena is a Singaporean game developer and publisher of free online games. It is the digital entertainment arm of parent company Sea Ltd, which was formerly named Garena. The company distributes game titles on Garena+ in various countries a ...

, a

based subsidiary of Garena.

Titles

*'' Savage: The Battle for Newerth'' (2003) (Windows, Macintosh, Linux) *'' Savage 2: A Tortured Soul'' (2008) (Windows, Macintosh, Linux) *''

'' (2010) (Windows, Macintosh, Linux) *''

'' (2015) (Windows, Macintosh, Linux) *''Savage Resurrection'' (2016) (Windows) *''Brawl of Ages'' (2017) (Windows)

Key events

*In 2003, S2 Games released ''Savage: The Battle for Newerth'', their first commercial game. *In 2004, three former S2 Games employees left the company to form

Offset Software Offset Software was a video game development company based in Newport Beach, California. It was founded by Sam McGrath, Travis Stringer, Trevor Stringer and Rod Green; except for Green, they had worked for S2 Games developing '' Savage: The Battl ...

. *In 2006, S2 Games re-released ''Savage: The Battle for Newerth'', as

freeware Freeware is software, most often proprietary, that is distributed at no monetary cost to the end user. There is no agreed-upon set of rights, license, or EULA that defines ''freeware'' unambiguously; every publisher defines its own rules for t ...

. *In 2008, S2 Games released ''Savage 2: A Tortured Soul''. *In 2009, S2 Games re-released ''Savage 2: A Tortured Soul'' as freeware. *In 2010, S2 Games released ''Heroes of Newerth''. *In 2011, S2 Games re-released ''Heroes of Newerth'' as freeware/

free-to-play Free-to-play (F2P or FtP) video games are games that give players access to a significant portion of their content without paying or do not require paying to continue playing. Free-to-play is distinct from traditional commercial software, which ...

. *In 2012, S2 Games made all heroes in ''Heroes of Newerth'' completely free for online play. *In 2012, over 10,000,000 ''Heroes of Newerth'' user accounts had been registered. *In 2013, S2 Games announced ''Strife'' an upcoming "second generation MOBA". *In 2015, S2 Games sold the property of ''Heroes of Newerth'' from its label into the hands of

and Frostburn Studios. *In 2017, ''Savage Resurrection'' was re-released under a free-to-play model. *In 2018, ''Strife'' and ''Brawl of Ages'' servers were shut down and S2 Games was quietly closed.

References

External links

* Video game companies based in California Video game development companies Software companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Rohnert Park, California Video game companies established in 2003 Video game companies disestablished in 2018 Defunct video game companies of the United States Defunct companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area 2003 establishments in California 2018 disestablishments in California {{US-videogame-company-stub