Trion Worlds
 | |
| Industry | Computer gaming |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2006 |
| Headquarters | Redwood City, California |
Key people | Scott Hartsman (CEO) |
| Products | Rift, ArcheAge, Defiance, Trove |
Number of employees | 200 (est.) |
| Parent | Independent |
| Website | http://www.trionworlds.com/en/ |
Trion Worlds, Inc. (previously Trion World Network, Inc.) is an American video game developer and publisher, which focuses primarily on MMOs, particularly of the MMORPG and MMORTS genres. The company was founded in 2006 by Lars Buttler and Jon Van Caneghem, who had each previously worked for NCSoft[1] and left in 2009 to join Electronic Arts.[2]
History
The company was originally founded as Trion World Network, Inc in 2006 by Lars Buttler, previously serving as Vice President for Global Online at major American video game publisher EA, and Jon Van Canegham, previously serving as Executive Producer at South Korean online video game company NCSoft. The two left their respective jobs to pursue the founding of a company that could "define a generation of interactive entertainment by fundamentally revolutionizing the way games are created, played and distributed.” [citation needed]
After the founding, the company immediately began development on the Trion Platform, a server technology through which it claims both Trion and "external partners" will deliver games, and is claimed to be less heavily client-based and enable large-scale battles.
Trion also begun early development on their first MMORPG, then titled Heroes of Telara, which would go on to be renamed as Rift: Planes of Telara, until finally being released as Rift in March 2011.
In 2011, in addition to the renaming of Heroes of Telara to Rift: Planes of Telara, Trion World Network, Inc. renamed itself as Trion Worlds, Inc.
Products
Rift
In 2006, Trion began development on Heroes of Telara (now known simply as Rift), an MMORPG. The game would go on to undergo extensive alpha testing, with beta testing finalizing the stress test portion of development.[3] Trion Worlds CEO Lars Buttler has stated that Rift has a budget of "over US$50 million".[4] The game was officially released in 2011 in the United States on March 1, Australia on March 2, and throughout Europe on March 4.
Defiance
In 2010, Trion and Syfy announced a deal in which a video game and related television series would be produced. In 2011, the game was revealed to be Defiance, an MMO open world shooter, and released for Microsoft Windows, Steam, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on April 2, 2013. The official press release states that the game "interconnects with a global television program by Syfy, cable’s premier imagination-based entertainment channel. The first live gameplay demo of Trion and Syfy’s visionary concept debuted at the annual industry event (E3), and was announced as the "first interconnect video game and television series." [citation needed]
End of Nations
End of Nations, originally a free-to-play MMORTS video game developed by Petroglyph Games, is now being developed in house at Trion Worlds and is now a MOBA RTS hybrid. End of Nations is currently planned for a simultaneous North American and European release. It was in the alpha phase of development when it was put on hold in November 2013.
Archeage
Trion acquired the western markets publishing license for ArcheAge. Archeage, after a beta in South Korea another one in Russia, was released on 16 September 2014 for Europe and USA.[5][6]
Trove
Released on July 9, 2015, Trove is a voxel-based MMORPG developed and published by Trion Worlds. There are 14 playable classes, each with unique play styles and their own themed biome. A large amount of content (including dungeons, lairs, and equipment) is player-submitted. Adventure worlds are randomly generated on spawn, with dungeons scattered throughout various biomes. Players can join clubs to access a club world where building progress is saved and protected from non-club members.
Devilian
On June 30, 2015, Trion announced they were publishing South Korea’s Ginno Games' Devilian in Europe and North America.[7] Devilian is a fantasy MMO where players play a half-devil know as a Devilian which has two forms a normal characters and a devil form. The forms level up individually.[8][9]
Atlas Reactor
At PAX Prime 2015, Trion Worlds announced Atlas Reactor, a turn-based massively multiplayer online game set in the future. It is a team-based game in which a team of players compete against another team in simultaneous turns.[10][11] Atlas Reactor launched on October 04, 2016, and became the first game to be integrated with Discord, allowing players to control the Discord client while in-game.[12]
Investors and partners
Trion has multiple investors, including The Time Warner Investments Group, Comcast Ventures, Bertelsman Digital Media Investments, Rustic Canyon Partners, Trinity Ventures and DCM, with HP listed on their website as a "strategic partner". In addition, Trion has also partnered with American video game developer Petroglyph Games, American cable television channel Syfy, and video game publishers Sony Computer Entertainment and Ubisoft. [citation needed]
References
- ^ Curt Feldman. "Q&A: NCsoft executive producer Jon Van Caneghem".
- ^ Dean Takahashi. "Trion World Network plays executive musical chairs".
- ^ Bowens, Cindy (2010-11-23). "VIP Code Distribution". Retrieved 2011-03-21.
- ^ Crossley, Rob (2010-08-27). "Trion's first game budget 'over $50m'". Retrieved 2011-03-21.
Rift: Planes of Telara is already very ambitious because it is over $50 million in development
- ^ "Trion to publish ArcheAge". Retrieved 26 April 2014.
- ^ "ArcheAge Launches Tomorrow at 10:00 AM PDT (GMT-7)". ArcheAge. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
- ^ "Dungeon-Crawling MMORPG Devilian Coming to North America, Europe". IGN. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
- ^ "Trion Worlds to publish Devilian fantasy action role-playing online game in the West". VentureBeat. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
- ^ "Feature Spotlight: Devil Form". DevilianGame. Trion. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
- ^ Te, Zorine (August 30, 2015). "Trion Worlds Reveals New Multiplayer Turn-Based Game". GameSpot. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
- ^ Tack, Daniel (August 29, 2015). "Trion Worlds Announces New Game, Atlas Reactor". Game Informer. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
- ^ "Atlas Reactor Game Review". MMOs.com. Retrieved 4 October 2016.