Relic Weapons

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Relic was founded in May 1997 by Alex Garden, Luke Moloney, Erin Daly, Aaron Kambeitz, Rob Cunningham, Gary Shaw, and Shane Alfreds. The name of the company was chosen because they liked the name and it was easy to pronounce. Their first title, Homeworld, was released on September 28, 1999, to critical acclaim and successful sales. Though they did not immediately continue working on the franchise (Sierra Entertainment, the game's publisher, owned the rights), the game did have a spin-off, Homeworld: Cataclysm, developed by Barking Dog Studios and published by Sierra. Their next title was Impossible Creatures, released by Microsoft on January 7, 2003. It focused on a fictional environment during the 1930s, allowing players to design units from different anatomical parts of animals. The game was successful, though it did not receive the same attention as Homeworld. Homeworld 2 was released on September 16, 2003. Although it boasted improved graphics and features and changed some elements of gameplay from the original, reviews cited some issues and did not score it as highly as its predecessor.

In Their Own Story

On April 27, 2004, publisher THQ announced it was acquiring Relic for close to US$10 million in an all-cash transaction, completed around early May 2004. Relic released Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War on September 20, 2004, a real-time strategy game based on Games Workshop's popular Warhammer 40,000 franchise. The game was a success, with many reviewers applauding its innovative resource management system and squad-based interface. As a series Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War has sold more than 7 million copies worldwide as of January 2013. Company of Heroes, a World War II-themed real-time strategy game, was released on September 12, 2006. It used Relic's new Essence engine. The engine, which had been designed in-house by Relic, featured many next-generation graphical effects, including HDR and dynamic lighting, as well as utilizing the Havok middleware physics engine. The game was very successful and won many awards from multiple gaming magazines and websites. As of January 2013, the Company of Heroes series has sold more than 4 million copies worldwide.

Reader's Guide

In December 2012, during THQ bankruptcy filings, it was revealed that Relic Entertainment 'is currently developing Company of Heroes 2 for a calendar year 2013 release and a new game with the working title Atlas for a release in calendar year 2014.' On January 23, 2013, it was revealed that THQ had sold Relic Entertainment to Sega for US$26.6 million as part of an auction of the company's properties. Sega outbid ZeniMax Media by $300,000. The Homeworld franchise was sold to Gearbox Software at a separate auction in April 2013. On August 21, 2017, Microsoft announced that Relic will develop Age of Empires IV. On July 12, 2021, Relic Entertainment announced Company of Heroes 3 for PC to be released late 2022. On May 23, 2023, three months to the day after the release of Company of Heroes 3, it was reported that Sega would be laying off more than 120 employees at Relic, blaming external factors negatively impacting the wider industry. On March 28, 2024, Relic Entertainment announced that an external investor had assisted it in going independent. One week later, the studio laid off over 40 employees.

Did You Know?

• Relic was founded in May 1997 by Alex Garden, Luke Moloney, Erin Daly, Aaron Kambeitz, Rob Cunningham, Gary Shaw, and Shane Alfreds.
• The name 'Relic' was chosen because they liked the name and it was easy to pronounce.
• As of January 2013, the Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War series had sold more than 7 million copies worldwide.
• Sega acquired Relic Entertainment for US$26.6 million, outbidding ZeniMax Media by $300,000.
• On March 28, 2024, Relic announced it had gone independent with the help of an external investor.