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Liquid Entertainment

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Liquid Entertainment
Company typePrivate
IndustryVideo games
FoundedApril 1999
FoundersEd Del Castillo, Mike Grayford
Defunct2018
FateDissolved[1]
Headquarters
La Cañada Flintridge, California
,
U.S.
Key people
Ed Del Castillo, Holly Newman
ProductsBattle Realms
Dragonshard
Desperate Housewives
Websitegoliquid.us

Liquid Entertainment was an American independent video game developer based in Pasadena, California. The studio was founded in April 1999 by Ed Del Castillo and Mike Grayford.

History

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Liquid Entertainment was founded in April 1999 by Ed Del Castillo and Mike Grayford.[2][3]

Liquid's first game was Battle Realms, published by Crave Entertainment in November 2001 to critical acclaim.[4] Battle Realms is a real-time strategy PC game for Windows that features an unconventional approach to resource management and unit development. It was well received by reviewers,[5] 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's Top 10 Games of E3 2001.[6] 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;[7] some reviewers compared it unfavorably to 2002's blockbuster real-time strategy titles Warcraft III and Age of Mythology.[8][9]

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's license to Tolkien's literary works, and in October 2005 Atari published the Dungeons & Dragons 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 computer game adaptation of the popular television series Desperate Housewives. Desperate Housewives: The Game won PC Gamer Adventure Game of the Year for 2007.

Liquid's next game Rise of the Argonauts, released in December 2008 and published by Codemasters, is a Greek mythology-themed action role-playing game for Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 that received mixed reviews,[10] with criticisms centering on technical problems, derivative art direction and repetitive gameplay.[11] In 2011 Sega published Liquid's second console game for Xbox 360 and PS3 Thor: God of Thunder that coincided with Marvel Studios's release of the film Thor in May 2011.

In 2012 Liquid pivoted into developing casual games for Facebook. 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 by Nikki Finke and Paramount Digital Entertainment for Facebook and iOS and Dungeons and Dragons: Heroes of Neverwinter, a turn-based strategy 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. 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 on Steam in December, 2019.[12]

Games developed

[edit]
Year Title Publisher
2001 Battle Realms Crave Entertainment
Ubisoft
2002 Battle Realms: Winter of the Wolf
2003 The Lord of the Rings: War of the Ring Sierra Entertainment
2005 Dungeons & Dragons: Dragonshard Atari
2006 Desperate Housewives: The Game Buena Vista Games
2008 Rise of the Argonauts Codemasters
2011 Thor: God of Thunder Sega
2012 Instant Jam: Facebook GarageGames
Deadline Hollywood: The Game Paramount Digital Entertainment
Dungeons and Dragons: Heroes of Neverwinter Atari
Paper Galaxy Liquid Entertainment
Karateka Karateka, LLC
2013 Cuddle Pets Digital Capital
2014 Max Steel Mattel

Nominations

[edit]
Title Nomination
Battle Realms 2002 nomination in "PC Strategy" category for The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) awards[13]
Desperate Housewives: The Game 2007 nomination in "Outstanding Achievement in Character Performance – Female" category for the AIAS awards[14]

References

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  1. ^ DISSOLUTION, California Secretary of State
  2. ^ Keefer, John (March 31, 2006). "GameSpy Retro: Developer Origins, Page 19 of 19". GameSpy. Archived from the original on June 9, 2007.
  3. ^ "Liquid Entertainment". GameSpy. Retrieved May 17, 2018.
  4. ^ "Battle Realms Details and Credits for PC". Metacritic. Retrieved May 17, 2018.
  5. ^ "Battle Realms for PC". GameRankings. Retrieved May 17, 2018.
  6. ^ "Battle Realms Winter of the Wolf announced". gamershell.com. Archived from the original on April 14, 2012. Retrieved May 25, 2012.
  7. ^ "Battle Realms: Winter of the Wolf reviews". GameRankings. Retrieved November 5, 2006.
  8. ^ Kasavin, Greg (November 21, 2002). "Battle Realms: Winter of the Wolf review". GameSpot. Archived from the original on December 2, 2006. Retrieved November 5, 2006.
  9. ^ "Battle Realms: Winter of the Wolf review". 1UP.com. January 1, 2000. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved November 5, 2006.
  10. ^ "Rise of The Argonauts PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved October 3, 2023.
  11. ^ "Rise of the Argonauts Review". Eurogamer. February 2, 2009.
  12. ^ Bantilan, Erwin (November 2019). "Battle Realms Steam Page is Up and Future Plan of Ed Del Castillo for the Game Franchise (Interview)". GamingPH. Archived from the original on July 3, 2022. Retrieved October 3, 2023.
  13. ^ "Award Category Details". 2002 5th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards. Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Retrieved May 17, 2018.
  14. ^ "Awards Category Details". 2007 10th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards. Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Retrieved May 17, 2018.
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