Robot Entertainment
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | February 2009 |
| Founder | Original founders of Ensemble Studios |
| Headquarters | Plano, Texas , United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | Age of Empires Online, Orcs Must Die! franchise, Hero Academy series, Echo Prime, ReadySet Heroes |
Number of employees | Under 25 (2019) |
Robot Entertainment is a United States-based developer and publisher of video games located in Plano, Texas. Established in February 2009 by the original founders of Ensemble Studios, the company took over support for Halo Wars until early 2010 and continued updates for Age of Empires III through 2011 before these responsibilities were handed back to Microsoft Studios. Among Robot Entertainment's developed titles are Age of Empires Online, the Orcs Must Die! franchise, the Hero Academy series, Echo Prime, and ReadySet Heroes.
History
On July 10, 2010, Robot Entertainment revealed it was working on two new games, one being a real-time strategy project published by Microsoft Studios, reflecting its Ensemble Studios heritage. The following month, August 2010, they announced Age of Empires Online, which featured a distinctive art style while preserving complex gameplay mechanics. By February 2011, development duties for this game were transferred to Gas Powered Games, allowing Robot Entertainment to concentrate on creating original intellectual properties.
That same month, February 2011, Robot Entertainment launched its self-developed and published title Orcs Must Die!, marking its entry into the action tower defense genre. Later that year in November, the company introduced Hero Academy, its inaugural mobile game, broadening its audience reach. In June 2012, Robot partnered with Yodo1 to distribute Hero Academy within the Chinese market, demonstrating its international expansion strategy.
In February 2015, Tencent Holdings acquired a minority share in Robot Entertainment, injecting capital into the company. Nevertheless, after the disappointing performance of Orcs Must Die! Unchained, Robot announced in early 2019 the shutdown of servers for that title as well as both Hero Academy games, accompanied by staff reductions to under 25 employees. Despite these cutbacks, development continued on two upcoming projects.
The first project, Ready Set Heroes, was created in partnership with Sony Interactive Entertainment for PlayStation 4 and was unveiled during Sony's March 2019 "State of Play" presentation. The second project, Orcs Must Die! 3, was announced at Gamescom 2019 and initially launched as a timed exclusive on Google Stadia in July 2020. It later became available on multiple platforms including Steam and various consoles in July 2021. CEO Patrick Hudson noted Google's strong enthusiasm for the series played a significant role in reviving the franchise with partial funding from Google.
Games
| Year | Title | Platforms | Genre |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Age of Empires Online | Microsoft Windows | Real-time strategy |
| Orcs Must Die! | Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360 | Action, tower defense | |
| 2012 | Hero Academy | Android, iOS, macOS, Microsoft Windows | Turn-based tactics |
| Orcs Must Die! 2 | Microsoft Windows | Action, tower defense | |
| 2013 | Echo Prime | iOS, Microsoft Windows | Action role-playing game |
| 2017 | Orcs Must Die! Unchained | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 | Action, tower defense |
| Hero Academy 2 | Android, iOS, macOS, Microsoft Windows | Turn-based tactics | |
| 2019 | ReadySet Heroes | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 | Dungeon crawler, party |
| 2020 | Orcs Must Die! 3 | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Google Stadia, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S | Action, tower defense |
| 2025 | Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap | Microsoft Windows, Xbox Series X/S | Action, tower defense |