Warhammer, Age of Empires 4 Dev Relic Entertainment Goes Independent

Relic Entertainment has officially gone independent. Relic Entertainment, developer of games like Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, Company of Heroes, and Age of Empires 4, has been around for nearly 30 years. The studio was quickly recognized as a bearer of quality in 2006, when IGN awarded Relic as the year’s best developer, receiving high praise for its takes on the real-time strategy genre.

The most recent release by Relic Entertainment was Company of Heroes 3, which was well-received overall, but has received some mixed reception from gamers who loved the older entries more. One of the high points of Company of Heroes 3 was its graphics, and gamers have put it among lists of the most gorgeous strategy games. Although it has made a recent release, Relic has also endured difficult times as a company, such as a round of layoffs in 2023. The developer’s newest move appears to reflect that experience.

Relic Entertainment has finally become an independent studio. Relic initially announced its decision to go independent in March following a round of layoffs from Sega, its previous co-owner. Announcing a partnership with new investor Emona Capital, Relic states a revitalized commitment to continue making great real-time strategy titles while thriving as an independent developer. Relic’s intent is to partner with publishers while investing in their existing, well-known IPs. The company was previously sold to Sega in 2013 as THQ filed for bankruptcy. The rights to Homeworld, one of the company’s most iconic franchises, were sold to Gearbox Software during that restructuring.

Going Independent Could Be Relic’s Best Chance to Survive

Unfortunately, after leaving Sega, Relic Entertainment was hit with more layoffs. Although the decision to run as an independent studio may have been in the interest of preventing more unnecessary layoffs, it became apparent that situations like that were not entirely avoidable. These layoffs have come along with an industry-wide restructuring throughout 2023 and continuing into 2024, hitting nearly 20,000 people in total so far.

It appears that more successful studios that were previously in partnerships with industry giants like Sega, Microsoft, and Sony are deciding to go independent as a means of survival. In order to avoid the rampant closures and layoffs affecting entire groups of workers and salvage as many teams as is possible, companies like Relic Entertainment and Toys for Bob have chosen to go independent, which may force the studios to make games that are more reasonable in terms of scale and ambition, but gives them a better chance to keep making games at all.

Relic Entertainment

Date Founded

May 1, 1997

Headquarters

Vancouver, Canada