List of Relic Entertainment games
Relic Entertainment is a Canadian video game developer based in Vancouver. The company was founded in June 1997 by Alex Garden and Luke Moloney. After its debut title "Homeworld" (1999), the company developed two more games, "Impossible Creatures" (2003) and "Homeworld 2" (2003), and signed a contract with publisher THQ for an additional two games. Before either game was released, however, Relic was bought by THQ in May 2004 for $10 million in cash; the company was renamed THQ Canada, with "Relic Entertainment" used as a marketing brand by the studio. THQ published the next five games by the company. A few months after being purchased, Relic released its first licensed title, "" (2004). It released two more original titles in 2006, "The Outfit" and "Company of Heroes", before transitioning to focus on further titles and expansion packs in the "Warhammer 40,000" and "Company of Heroes" franchises.
Homeworld 2
Approximately a year after the release of "Homeworld 2", in August 2004, Relic Studios was purchased by THQ for approximately $10 million USD. As THQ was considered to be a competitor of Sierra Entertainment and Vivendi Universal, the prospect of a "Homeworld" sequel remained unlikely as Sierra was still the owner of the "Homeworld" Intellectual Property (IP) until September 2007 when it was announced that THQ was in talks with Vivendi to purchase the license "Homeworld" franchise. In November 2007, THQ finally confirmed that it had acquired the license for the "Homeworld" franchise but didn't confirm a sequel maintaining that it had no comments on future games from THQ based on "Homeworld". However, Eurogamer reported in November 2008 that Relic was "definitely looking" at creating "Homeworld 3". """" lead designer Jonny Ebbert commented that "We're really happy the IP has made its way home, and yeah, we're definitely looking at it. We'll see what happens in the future,". Ebbert also commented that there was always a chance that the sequel could be in development behind closed doors. The strongest evidence indicating that "Homeworld 3" is in development came from Relic's General Manager, Tarnie Williams indicating that "three or four" titles were in development while declining to elaborate further. In 2011 Relic confirmed that they would "like to develop Homeworld 3" but they did not confirm or deny working on it. In early 2013 THQ suffered financial difficulties and liquidated their assets due to bankruptcy; Relic was sold off to SEGA. The "Homeworld" IP was not part of this sale. Despite early speculation that SEGA would attempt to rescue the IP, ultimately the "Homeworld" IP was sold to Gearbox Software. Gearbox announced that their initial plans would be to bring the existing "Homeworld" games to multiple digital sales platforms, but also created a forum on their website specifically asking for fan ideas about how the series should proceed. Blackbird Interactive, a newer developer made up of many of the designers of the original "Homeworld", later offered their support of Gearbox's purchase of the IP.