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 Final logo, used from 2017 to 2025 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | October 25, 1994; 31 years ago (1994-10-25)[1] |
| Founders |
|
| Defunct | February 25, 2025; 9 months ago (2025-02-25) |
| Fate | Dissolved |
| Headquarters | Kirkland, Washington, United States |
Number of employees | 100+ (2004)[2] |
| Parent | Warner Bros. Games (2004–2025) |
| Website | lith.com at theWayback Machine (archived 2025-02-22) |
Monolith Productions, Inc. was an Americanvideo game developer based inKirkland, Washington. The company was a subsidiary ofWarner Bros. Games from August 2004 until its shutdown in 2025.[3] It formerly published third-party games in the 1990s. In February 2025, it was reported that Warner Bros. Games had decided to close the studio.[4]
Monolith Productions was founded on October 25, 1994 by Bryan Bouwman, Toby Gladwell, Brian Goble,Jace Hall, Garrett Price, Paul Renault, and Brian Waite.[5] Co-founder Brian Goble had this to say regarding the company name.
At the time we formed the company,DOS was still theOS of choice for games. Because of this, we knew we had to come up with a name that was 8 characters or less (for8.3 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.[5]
Several of the founders, include Hall, were employees of software companyEdmark at the time, and the group had gotten together frequently to play games likeDoom. Several felt they could try their own hand at making video games. To promote their initial ideas, they took advantage of theRedbook audio format for compact discs that allowed both audio and digital files to be stored on the same media. Hall left Edmark to start promotion of the company, and ended up withMicrosoft, which was preparing for the release ofWindows 95. Microsoft brought on Monolith to develop gaming CDs to demonstrate the capabilities of Windows 95 andDirectX, with the remaining founders quitting Edmark and working out of offices at Microsoft's campus in Redmond, Washington.[6]
Hall used the gaming CDs to continue to build out a list of contacts for future expansion. This led to a significant investment from Japanese print publisherTakarajimasha, allowing Monolith to establish their own set of offices and bring on more staff to do full-time production by 1996.[6] Initial work was done towardsClaw, a game based on a shelved project by Garrett. During development, Monolith acquired Q Studios, a development team led by a friend Nick Newhard. At the time, Q Studios was finishing work onBlood and Monolith switched to focus on shipping it instead.Blood was one of the last games to use the 2.5DBuild engine, but meanwhile Monolith also had a team building an in-house 3D engine.Blood was a hit with the Monolith team and replacedDoom as their office deathmatch game.[6]
The company is best known for theBlood,No One Lives Forever andF.E.A.R series. Monolith developed theLithTechgame engine which was used for most of their games starting withShogo: Mobile Armor Division in September 1998. Between 1997 and 1999, Monolith alsopublished games–some developed by the studio, some by third parties.
By May 1997, the company employed more than 70 people.[7]
In 2004, Monolith Productions was acquired by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (now Warner Bros. Games).[3]
In 2014, the company released the titleMiddle-earth: Shadow of Mordor with a sequel entitledMiddle-earth: Shadow of War being released in 2017.
In 2021, the company announced that they were developing a video game starringWonder Woman.[8]
In 2025, Warner Bros. Games closed the studio alongsidePlayer First Games andWB Games San Diego, cancellingWonder Woman and refocusing development efforts on core intellectual properties.[4]
| Year | Title | Platform(s) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PC | Console | Handheld | ||
| 1997 | Blood | MS-DOS,Microsoft Windows | — | — |
| Claw | Microsoft Windows | — | — | |
| 1998 | Get Medieval | Microsoft Windows | — | — |
| Shogo: Mobile Armor Division | Microsoft Windows,Mac OS,Linux,AmigaOS | — | — | |
| Blood II: The Chosen | Microsoft Windows | — | — | |
| 1999 | Gruntz | Microsoft Windows | — | — |
| TNN Outdoors Pro Hunter 2 | Microsoft Windows | — | — | |
| 2000 | Sanity: Aiken's Artifact | Microsoft Windows | — | — |
| The Operative: No One Lives Forever | Microsoft Windows, Mac OS | PlayStation 2 | — | |
| 2001 | Tex Atomic's Big Bot Battles | Microsoft Windows | — | — |
| Aliens Versus Predator 2 | Microsoft Windows, Mac OS | — | — | |
| 2002 | No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way | Microsoft Windows, Mac OS | — | — |
| 2003 | Tron 2.0 | Microsoft Windows, Mac OS | Xbox | Game Boy Advance |
| Contract J.A.C.K. | Microsoft Windows | — | — | |
| 2005 | The Matrix Online | Microsoft Windows | — | — |
| F.E.A.R. | Microsoft Windows | PlayStation 3,Xbox 360 | — | |
| Condemned: Criminal Origins | Microsoft Windows | Xbox 360 | — | |
| 2008 | Condemned 2: Bloodshot | — | PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | — |
| 2009 | F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin | Microsoft Windows | PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | — |
| 2012 | Gotham City Impostors | Microsoft Windows | PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | — |
| Guardians of Middle-earth | Microsoft Windows | PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | — | |
| 2014 | Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor | Microsoft Windows,OS X, Linux | PlayStation 4,Xbox One, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | — |
| 2017 | Middle-earth: Shadow of War | Microsoft Windows | PlayStation 4, Xbox One | — |
| Year | Title | Platform(s) |
|---|---|---|
| PC | ||
| 1994 | Maabus | MS-DOS |
| 1998 | Rage of Mages | Microsoft Windows |
| 1999 | Rage of Mages II: Necromancer | Microsoft Windows |
| Septerra Core: Legacy of the Creator | Microsoft Windows | |
| Gorky 17 | Microsoft Windows,Mac OS,Linux,AmigaOS |
"We leased a bunch of buildings in this office park," says Garrett. "I remember walking through it with my wife and she asked 'How are you ever gonna fill all these up?' We just began rounding up our friends from other companies. We almost instantly had this whole crew." With the studio complex set up in 1996 – complete with sound studio and other high-end extras... "Q Studios was launched by our friend Nick Newhard," Garrett recalls. "In this whole pedal-to- the-metal thing, Jason was like 'Let's just acquire Q Studios, let's get Nick in, let's give him stock, let's make him a part of this too.'" Blood was a much-loved game, eventually replacing Doom as the go-to deathmatch game at Monolith.
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