Monolith Productions

Monolith Productions is an American video game developer based in Kirkland, Washington. Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment acquired Monolith Productions in August 2004.[3]

Not to be confused with Monolith Soft, a Japanese video game studio.
Monolith Productions, Inc.
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
FoundedOctober 25, 1994 (1994-10-25)[1]
Founders
  • Brian Goble
  • Brian Waite
  • Bryan Bouwman
  • Garrett Price
  • Jace Hall
  • Paul Renault
  • Toby Gladwell
HeadquartersKirkland, Washington, USA
Number of employees
100+ (2004)[2]
ParentWarner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Websitelith.com

History

Monolith Productions was founded in October 15, 1994 by Brian Goble, Brian Waite, Bryan Bouwman, Garrett Price, Jace Hall, Paul Renault, and Toby Gladwell.[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 known for their games Blood, the No One Lives Forever and F.E.A.R series. Monolith is also known for the development of the graphical game engine LithTech, which has been used for most of their games and premiered with Shogo: Mobile Armor Division in September 1998; they also used Brian Goble's Windows Animation Package 32 engine for their 2D games. 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.[3]

In 2014, they released Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, the game was heavily praised. Following after that with a sequel, Middle-earth: Shadow of War released in 2017, also critically praised.

List of video games

1994–2003
Year Title Platform(s)
Amiga DOS GBA Lin Mac PS2 Win Xbox
1994 Maabus[A] No Yes No No No No No No
1997 Blood No Yes No No No No No No
Claw No No No No No No Yes No
1998 Rage of Mages[A] No No No No No No Yes No
Get Medieval No No No No No No Yes No
Shogo: Mobile Armor Division Yes No No Yes Yes No Yes No
Blood II: The Chosen No No No No No No Yes No
1999 Gruntz No No No No No No Yes No
Rage of Mages II: Necromancer[A] No No No No No No Yes No
Septerra Core: Legacy of the Creator[A] No No No No No No Yes No
TNN Outdoors Pro Hunter 2 No No No No No No Yes No
Gorky 17[A] Yes No No Yes Yes No Yes No
2000 Sanity: Aiken's Artifact No No No No No No Yes No
The Operative: No One Lives Forever No No No No Yes Yes Yes No
2001 Tex Atomic's Big Bot Battles No No No No No No Yes No
Aliens Versus Predator 2 No No No No Yes No Yes No
2002 No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way No No No No Yes No Yes No
2003 Tron 2.0 No No Yes No Yes No Yes Yes
Contract J.A.C.K. No No No No No No Yes No
Notes

A These games were published, not developed, by Monolith Productions.

2005–present
Year Title Platform(s)
Lin PS3 PS4 Win XB360 XBO
2005 The Matrix Online No No No Yes No No
F.E.A.R. No Yes No Yes Yes No
Condemned: Criminal Origins No No No Yes Yes No
2008 Condemned 2: Bloodshot No Yes No No Yes No
2009 F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin No Yes No Yes Yes No
2012 Gotham City Impostors No Yes No Yes Yes No
Guardians of Middle-earth No Yes No Yes Yes No
2014 Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
2017 Middle-earth: Shadow of War No No Yes Yes No Yes
Notes

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. Thorsen, Tor (August 12, 2004). "Warner Bros. buys Monolith Productions". GameSpot. Archived from the original on January 12, 2006. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
  4. Keefer, John (March 31, 2006). "GameSpy Retro: Developer Origins, Page 12 of 19". GameSpy. Archived from the original on June 9, 2007.
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