Monolith Productions

Not to be confused with Monolith Soft, a Japanese video game studio.

Monolith Productions, Inc.
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
FoundedOctober 25, 1993; 31 years ago (1993-10-25)[1]
Founders
  • Bryan Bouwman
  • Toby Gladwell
  • Brian Goble
  • Jace Hall
  • Garrett Price
  • Paul Renault
  • Brian Waite
HeadquartersKirkland, Washington, United States
Number of employees
100+ (2004)[2]
ParentWarner Bros. Games (2004–present)
Websitelith.com

Monolith Productions, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Kirkland, Washington. The company has been a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Games since August 2004.[3] It formerly published third-party games in the 1990s.

History

Monolith Productions was founded on October 25, 1994 by Bryan Bouwman, Toby Gladwell, Brian Goble, Jace Hall, Garrett Price, Paul Renault, and Brian Waite. [4]

Co-founder Brian Goble had this to say regarding the company name.

At the time we formed the company, DOS was still the OS of choice for games. Because of this, we knew we had to come up with a name that was 8 characters or less (for 8.3 filenames). We had been researching story and technology ideas for our demo CD and we were watching a lot of movies. "Monolith" came up, was semi mysterious, wasn't taken, and was 8 characters. Perfect.[4]

The company is best known for the Blood, No One Lives Forever and F.E.A.R series. Monolith developed the LithTech game engine which was used for most of their games starting with Shogo: Mobile Armor Division in September 1998. Between 1997 and 1999, Monolith also published games–some developed by the studio, some by third parties.

In 2004, Monolith Productions was acquired by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (now Warner Bros. Games).[3]

In 2014, the company released the title Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor with a sequel entitled Middle-earth: Shadow of War being released in 2017.

In 2021, the company announced that they are developing a video game starring Wonder Woman.[5]

Technology

Main article: LithTech

Video games

Developed

Year Title Platform(s)
PC Console Handheld
1997 Blood MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows — —
Claw Microsoft Windows — —
1998 Get Medieval Microsoft Windows — —
Shogo: Mobile Armor Division Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, Linux, AmigaOS — —
Blood II: The Chosen Microsoft Windows — —
1999 Gruntz Microsoft Windows — —
TNN Outdoors Pro Hunter 2 Microsoft Windows — —
2000 Sanity: Aiken's Artifact Microsoft Windows — —
The Operative: No One Lives Forever Microsoft Windows, Mac OS PlayStation 2 —
2001 Tex Atomic's Big Bot Battles Microsoft Windows — —
Aliens Versus Predator 2 Microsoft Windows, Mac OS — —
2002 No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way Microsoft Windows, Mac OS — —
2003 Tron 2.0 Microsoft Windows, Mac OS Xbox Game Boy Advance
Contract J.A.C.K. Microsoft Windows — —
2005 The Matrix Online Microsoft Windows — —
F.E.A.R. Microsoft Windows PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 —
Condemned: Criminal Origins Microsoft Windows Xbox 360 —
2008 Condemned 2: Bloodshot — PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 —
2009 F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin Microsoft Windows PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 —
2012 Gotham City Impostors Microsoft Windows PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 —
Guardians of Middle-earth Microsoft Windows PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 —
2014 Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 —
2017 Middle-earth: Shadow of War Microsoft Windows PlayStation 4, Xbox One —
TBA Untitled Wonder Woman video game TBA

Published

Year Title Platform(s)
PC
1994 Maabus MS-DOS
1998 Rage of Mages Microsoft Windows
1999 Rage of Mages II: Necromancer Microsoft Windows
Septerra Core: Legacy of the Creator Microsoft Windows
Gorky 17 Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, Linux, AmigaOS

References

  1. ^ @MonolithDev (October 2, 2019). "October 25th is Monolith's 25th Anniversary. Twenty. Five. Years. In the business. And we've got a lot of fun stuff planned this month to celebrate. Stay tuned here for a big ol' look back at a long history of #gamedev" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  2. ^ Fahey, Rob (January 16, 2004). "Monolith Productions appoints new CEO". gamesindustry.biz. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
  3. ^ a b Thorsen, Tor (August 12, 2004). "Warner Bros. buys Monolith Productions". GameSpot. Archived from the original on January 12, 2006. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
  4. ^ a b Keefer, John (March 31, 2006). "GameSpy Retro: Developer Origins, Page 12 of 19". GameSpy. Archived from the original on June 9, 2007.
  5. ^ Prescott, Shaun. "Wonder Woman game announced, is in development at Monolith Productions". PC Gamer. PC Gamer. Retrieved March 23, 2022.