Arcen Games

Arcen Games is a small video game company founded in 2009 by Chris McElligott Park.[6] The company launched their first product, AI War: Fleet Command, in mid 2009 for Windows PCs.[7]

Arcen Games

Type	LLC
Industry	Video games
Founded	2009
Headquarters	United States
Key people	Chris McElligott Park Pablo Vega Keith LaMothe Daniette Shinkle
Products	AI War: Fleet Command Tidalis A Valley Without Wind 1&2 Shattered Haven Skyward Collapse Bionic Dues The Last Federation Stars Beyond Reach Starward Rogue In Case of Emergency, Release Raptor AI War 2
Number of employees	1 (2019)[1] 3 (2016)[2][3] 6 (2015)[4] 2 (2009)[5]
Website	www.arcengames.com

The company became one of the early notable examples of heavy procedural generation in almost all their games.[8] They are also known for taking unusual gameplay ideas in an idiosyncratic range of genres,[9] and exploring to the extreme ends of each idea.[10] Most of Arcen's titles include some form of overarching goals with a lot of freedom as to how the player goes about reaching said goals.[11] The company founder has a stated aversion to being stuck into any one genre.[12]

Arcen Games is best known for its real time strategy game AI War: Fleet Command,[13] which had six DLC expansions released between 2010 and 2014.[14] Arcen released the puzzle game Tidalis in July 2010,[15][16] 2D side scrolling game A Valley Without Wind in April 2012,[17] its divergent sequel A Valley Without Wind 2 in February 2013,[18] environmental puzzle game Shattered Haven in March 2013,[19] turn-based god game Skyward Collapse in May 2013[20] with an expansion called Nihon no Mura later that year,[21] and tactical mech game Bionic Dues in October 2013.[22]

In April 2014, Arcen released The Last Federation, a space-themed strategy/simulation game.[23][24][25] This title did well enough to get two expansions by the end of 2015.[26] The Last Federation put the company in a "relatively cash-rich position," after which a major project by the name of Stars Beyond Reach was undertaken.[27] In October 2016, after an 18-month development cycle with the company's largest-yet team of staff and contractors, and with funds dwindling as long-term sales from other titles tapered, Stars Beyond Reach was put on indefinite hold.[28]

Arcen then rapidly developed and released the shoot 'em up roguelite Starward Rogue for January 2016,[29] but the title was a commercial failure that led to the layoff of all but three of their staff.[30] In August 2016, they released and then pulled from sale a 3D dino-vs-robots game, In Case of Emergency, Release Raptor due to overwhelmingly poor sales.[31] In January 2018, a mostly-independent group of former contractors dubbed the "Extended Team"[32] finished their work on a "labor of love" expansion for Starward Rogue, which was also well-received without generating much income.[33]

After one failed kickstarter in late 2016, a followup successful kickstarter the next month,[34] and then an extended period of early access starting in October 2018,[35] Arcen Games released AI War 2 in October 2019[36] to positive reviews.[37] The first expansion for AI War 2 was released in February 2020.[38]