Crate Entertainment

Crate Entertainment
Private
Industry Interactive entertainment
Predecessor Iron Lore Entertainment
Founded Massachusetts, U.S. (February 18, 2008 (2008-02-18))
Headquarters Massachusetts, U.S.
Key people
 Arthur Bruno
Products Grim Dawn
Number of employees
 13[1]
Website http://www.crateentertainment.com

Crate Entertainment is an independent video game developer based in Massachusetts. The company was publicly announced on February 18, 2008 by former members of Iron Lore Entertainment.[2][3]

History

Following Iron Lore Entertainment's failure to secure funding for its next project, it was announced on February 18, 2008 that former members of Iron Lore had created a new company. Several days later it was announced that the company would be working as a contractor for fellow Massachusetts based Demiurge Studios, providing art and design leadership on one of the company's projects.[4]

Several months later on August 19, 2008 Crate announced the acquisition of the Black Legion intellectual property that has been in development at Iron Lore Entertainment before that studio closed. Iron Lore had attracted significant interest from publishers while pitching Black Legion in late 2007 but had not been able to survive long enough to close a publishing deal. Crate had hoped to pick up on the momentum that Black Legion had gained but due to the U.S. economic recession publishers opted to pass on a large project from the studio.[4]

After nearly a year of silence, Crate announced on July 27, 2009 that the company had acquired licensing to use Iron Lore's Titan Quest game engine for their new action role-playing game project.[4] On January 21, 2010 Crate announced that the name of their new project would be Grim Dawn.[5][6][7]

In an update provided to the Grim Dawn Kickstarter project on April 18, 2012, Crate revealed that the core of the company consists of only two full-time employees, with additional work being provided by former Iron Lore employees when needed.[8]

After the strong success of the Kickstarter campaign (where they received nearly double their funding target in pledges), Crate were able to hire additional staff, several of whom were former employees of the failed 38 Studios. This allowed Crate to significantly increase the rate of development, and on May 15, 2013 the Grim Dawn alpha (Build 8) was released. On November 5, 2013 the game was released on Steam Early Access.

In June, 2015, Crate announced that they had hired Eric Sexton, former artist and designer at Blizzard North, stating that his role primarily involved world building and the development of lore.

Grim Dawn was released in February 25, 2016 and received high critical praise.[9]

On 3rd August 2016 one of the Kickstarter goals - a survival mode - was released entitled "The Crucible" where players battle waves of foes across multiple arenas.

An expansion for the game entitled "Ashes of Malmouth" was released on 11th October 2017 adding two more Acts to the game as well as two more masteries: Inquisitor and Necromancer.

On 5th March 2018 Crate announced a second expansion for the game entitled "Forgotten Gods" due to be released some time in the 1st half of 2019.[10]

Games

References

  1. ↑ "About". Crate Entertainment. Crate Entertainment, LLC. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  2. ↑ "Crate Entertainment Website - News Archive". Retrieved 2010-04-21.
  3. ↑ "Joystiq News Article: "Defunct Titan Quest dev lives on as Crate Entertainment"". Retrieved 2010-04-21.
  4. 1 2 3 "Crate Entertainment Website - News Archive". Retrieved 2010-04-21.
  5. ↑ "Crate Entertainment Website". Retrieved 2010-04-21.
  6. ↑ "Worth Playing News Article: "'Grim Dawn' Announced"". Retrieved 2010-04-21.
  7. ↑ "Joystiq News Article: "Former Titan Quest devs announce Grim Dawn"". Retrieved 2010-04-21.
  8. ↑ "Grim Dawn by Crate Entertainment » Answers to questions - Do you have a publisher? How big is Crate? How far along is Grim Dawn? — Kickstarter". Retrieved 2012-04-26.
  9. ↑ "Grim Dawn for PC reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  10. ↑ http://grimdawn.com/forums/showthread.php?t=78456
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