GMT Games
GMT Games is a California-based wargaming publisher founded in 1990. The current management and creative team includes Tony Curtis, Rodger MacGowan, Mark Simonitch, and Andy Lewis. The company has become well known for graphically attractive games that range from "monster games", of many maps and counters, to quite simple games suitable for introducing new players to wargaming. They also produce card games and family games. "The Washington Post" called GMT "the modern hobby's highest-profile wargame publisher".
Frictional Games
Prior to the foundation of Frictional Games, Thomas Grip and Jens Nilsson had been working as freelance artist and musician, respectively, and had never worked professionally in the video game industry, where both had only minor backgrounds in programming. In 1999, Grip started developing freeware games under the name GripDesign, creating "Fiend" (2001) and "Energetic" (2005). For the development of "Energetic" and an unreleased title named "Unbirth", Grip worked together with Nilsson as the games' sound designer, and in 2006, the two agreed to join forces, officially founding Frictional Games on 1 January 2007. The team set out to create a new survival horror project, starting by developing their own game engine that would eventually become the first iteration of the HPL Engine. Built upon this engine they made "Penumbra", a tech demo to display the engine's capabilities, which later evolved into their first game, "", which they released in partnership with Paradox Interactive on 30 March 2007, and was followed its sequel, "", as well as its expansion, "", in 2008. The series was heavily inspired by the "Silent Hill" series, however, aimed to achieve an equal or higher level of fright, without employing puzzle or action techniques, that the series' games prominently used, and rather focusing solely on the horror aspect. The series in total was a financial success, but not the result Frictional Games had hoped to produce, with the game incorporating a lot of issues, Frictional Games holds the publisher, Paradox Interactive, responsible for.