 | |
| Industry | Video games |
|---|---|
| Founded | August 25, 2016 |
| Founders |
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| Headquarters | Burbank, California, U.S. |
| Products | |
| Website | squanchgames |
Squanch Games (formerly known as Squanchtendo) is an American video game development studio based in Burbank, California. The company was founded by Justin Roiland in August 2016. The studio is most known for developing Accounting (2016), Trover Saves the Universe (2019) and High on Life (2022). The company has offices in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Burbank, California.
Justin Roiland, the co-creator and former [1] voice actor behind the Rick and Morty series, founded Squanchtendo on August 25, 2016, in partnership with Tanya Watson, who previously worked as an executive producer at Epic Games. Roiland previously worked on Pocket Mortys , a mobile game in the Rick and Morty franchise, in conjunction with Adult Swim. He formed the studio with the intention of developing virtual reality games, [2] a passion he had since 2015, being one of the earliest backers for the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset. [3] Roiland first met Watson through Ophir Lupu, United Talent Agency's head of games. Watson, using her contacts at Epic Games, helped the studio to expand and recruit talents. [4] "Squanch" is a planet in the Rick and Morty franchise, while "tendo" is a wordplay of video game publisher Nintendo, though the company changed its name in 2017 to just "Squanch Games" after being advised by a lawyer. [5]
The studio's first game was Accounting , a VR exploration game released in 2016. The game was developed in collaboration with Crows Crows Crows and William Pugh, the designer of The Stanley Parable . [6] An expanded version of the game, Accounting+, which doubles the length of the original game, was released in December 2017. [7] In August 2018, the company acquired the trademark for Radical Heights, a defunct battle royale game, from Boss Key Productions. [8] The studio then went on to work on Dr. Splorchy Presents: Space Heroes, a project for Google Daydream, and Trover Saves the Universe . Unlike the studio's previous games, which was considered to be a more experiential project, Trover Saves the Universe is "significant in length experience". [4] While Trover features VR component, it is not a requirement as the team wanted the game to reach a larger audience. [9] The game was released in 2019 to generally positive reviews. In January 2021, Watson left the studio, and Roiland assumed the position of the company's chief executive officer. [10]
The company's latest video game is High on Life , a comedic first-person shooter released in December 2022. [11]
In January 2023, it was revealed a former employee sued Squanch Games back in 2018 over alleged sexual harassment, discrimination, and wrongful termination. According to court documents, the studio denied the claims but later settled. [12] Later that month, Squanch Games announced that Justin Roiland had resigned from his position at the studio. [13]
| Year | Title | Platform(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Accounting | Windows, PlayStation 4 |
| 2018 | Dr. Splorchy Presents: Space Heroes | Google Daydream |
| 2019 | Trover Saves the Universe | Windows, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Oculus Quest |
| 2022 | High on Life | Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 |
Daniel James Harmon is an American screenwriter and producer. He is best known as the creator and producer of the NBC sitcom Community (2009–2015), creator and host of the comedy podcast Harmontown (2012–2019), co-creator of the Adult Swim animated sitcom Rick and Morty (2013–present) and its subsequent franchise along with Justin Roiland, and co-founder of the alternative television network and website Channel 101 along with Rob Schrab, and creator of Fox animated sitcom Krapopolis (2023–present).
Mark Justin Roiland is an American voice actor, animator, writer, and producer. He co-created the Adult Swim animated sitcom Rick and Morty, for which he voiced the protagonists Rick Sanchez and Morty Smith in seasons 1 through 6 from 2013 to 2022, as well as Hulu's Solar Opposites, in which he voiced the main character, Korvo, in seasons 1 through 3 from 2020 to 2022, until both networks severed ties with him in 2023. He had also voiced Earl of Lemongrab in Adventure Time, Blendin Blandin in Gravity Falls, and Oscar in Fish Hooks. He founded the animation studio Justin Roiland's Solo Vanity Card Productions! and the video game studio Squanch Games, though he resigned from the latter in 2023.
Rick and Morty is an American adult animated science fiction sitcom created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon for Cartoon Network's nighttime programming block Adult Swim. The series follows the misadventures of Rick Sanchez, a cynical mad scientist, and his good-hearted but fretful grandson Morty Smith, who split their time between domestic life and interdimensional adventures that take place across an infinite number of realities, often traveling to other planets and dimensions through portals and on Rick's flying saucer. The general concept of Rick and Morty relies on two conflicting scenarios: domestic family drama and a misanthropic grandfather dragging his grandson into hijinks.
Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist is an adventure video game developed by Crows Crows Crows, a studio created by William Pugh, best known for his work on another video game, The Stanley Parable. The game was released for Microsoft Windows and OS X on December 4, 2015 as a free offering. The game sets up expectations of participating in a narrative-driven story about a heist, but players instead find themselves helping out an unseen narrator before they can participate in the story.
The third season of Rick and Morty, an American animated television series created by Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland, originally aired on Cartoon Network's late night programming block, Adult Swim. It premiered with "The Rickshank Rickdemption", which aired unannounced on April 1, 2017, as part of Adult Swim's annual April Fools' prank. As a result of production delays, the remaining episodes began airing weekly nearly four months later, on July 30, 2017. The season comprised ten episodes but it originally was supposed to be fourteen episodes, and its initial airing concluded on October 1, 2017.
"A Rickle in Time" is the first episode in the second season of the American animated television sitcom Rick and Morty, and the twelfth overall episode of the series. Written by Matt Roller and directed by Wes Archer, the episode first aired on Adult Swim in the United States on July 26, 2015. The title of the episode is a pun to the novel, A Wrinkle in Time.
Pocket Mortys, also known as Rick and Morty: Pocket Mortys, is a free-to-play role-playing video game developed by Big Pixel Studios, Tag Games and Pocket Sized Hands and published by Adult Swim Games. The game was released worldwide on January 13, 2016 for iOS and Android devices. The game is based on the television series Rick and Morty and the mechanics serve as a parody/remake of the Pokémon franchise, being updated each episode with new playable characters based on those from the wider franchise every year since. Two comic book adaptations, Pocket Mortys (2016) and Pocket Like You Stole It! (2017), written by Tini Howard, have been published by Oni Press.
William Pugh is a British game designer best known for his work on The Stanley Parable, and for founding the game development studio Crows Crows Crows.
Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality is a virtual reality game compatible with HTC Vive, PlayStation VR and Oculus Rift developed by Owlchemy Labs and published by Adult Swim Games for Microsoft Windows on April 20, 2017. It is based on the American animated series Rick and Morty, whose series co-creator Justin Roiland aided in the development. A port for the PlayStation 4 was released on April 10, 2018.
Richard Daniel "Rick" Sanchez is one of the two eponymous characters from the Adult Swim animated television series Rick and Morty and resulting multimedia franchise. Created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, he is voiced by the former during the first six seasons of the series, then by Ian Cardoni beginning with the seventh season, and Yōhei Tadano in Rick and Morty: The Anime, after voicing the character in the Japanese dub of the series and various promotional short films. Rick is a misanthropic, alcoholic mad scientist inspired by Christopher Lloyd's Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown from Back to the Future and Reed Richards / Mr. Fantastic from Marvel Comics. In September 2021, Lloyd portrayed Rick himself in a series of promotional interstitials for the series.
The fourth season of the animated television series Rick and Morty was confirmed by Adult Swim in May 2018. The season consists of 10 episodes. The first five episodes of the season aired from November 10, 2019 to December 15, 2019, while the remaining five aired from May 3, 2020 to May 31, 2020.
Trover Saves the Universe is a 2019 action platform game developed and published by Squanch Games for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and Oculus Quest. Envisioned as a comedy game, the title features an optional virtual reality component. Justin Roiland, who was the founder of Squanch Games and the co-creator of Rick and Morty, provided voice work for many characters in this game. It received generally positive reviews upon release.
Mr. Meeseeks is a recurring fictional species in the American animated television series Rick and Morty. Created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon and based on the title character from Scud: The Disposable Assassin by Rob Schrab, Meeseeks are a powder-blue-skinned species of humanoids who are created to serve a single purpose which they will go to any length to fulfill. Each brought to life by a "Meeseeks Box", they typically live for no more than a few hours in a constant state of pain, vanishing upon completing their assigned task so as to end their own existence and thereby end their suffering; as such, the longer an individual Meeseeks remains alive, the more insane and unhinged they become.
Mike McMahan is an American comedy writer and television producer. He is the creator of the animated comedies Solar Opposites and Star Trek: Lower Decks.
The sixth season of the American adult animated television series Rick and Morty premiered on September 4, 2022. Starring Justin Roiland as both titular characters, Rick Sanchez and Morty Smith, and their inter-dimensional counterparts, the season was ordered before the fourth season of the show finished airing, in May 2020. It is the final season to feature Roiland providing any voice as he was fired from the series on January 24, 2023, due to domestic violence allegations.
Zach Hadel, known by his pseudonym psychicpebbles, is an American animator, writer, director, voice actor, and YouTuber. He and Michael Cusack are co-creators and co-stars of the Adult Swim animated series Smiling Friends. He is also known for his Internet animations and for being a co-host of the Let's Play web series OneyPlays.
The Vindicators is an American animated superhero comedy spin-off of the Rick and Morty franchise, owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, whose primary eponymous team consists of Vance Maximus, Supernova, Alan Rails, Crocubot, Million Ants, and Noob Noob, and were created by Sarah Carbiener and Erica Rosbe for the 2017 third season of Rick and Morty, premiering in "Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender". Following the publication of a comic book sequel and prequel by Oni Press in 2018, the characters were revived after five years with Vindicators 2: Last Stand Between Earth and Doom, a ten-episode miniseries released to the Adult Swim YouTube channel in 2022 as the second television series in the franchise, with Carbiener serving as showrunner, and expressing interest in further seasons of the series being produced.
Rick and Morty is an American animated science-fiction comedy franchise, whose eponymous duo consists of Rick Sanchez and Morty Smith. Rick and Morty were created by cartoonist Justin Roiland for a 2006 parody film of Back to the Future for Channel 101, a short film festival co-founded by Dan Harmon. After six years, the sketch was developed into Rick and Morty, a half-hour prime time show that was a hit for Adult Swim, receiving universal acclaim across all seasons. Alongside the original television series, the characters of the show have been featured in a variety of media, including spin-offs, comic books, musical releases and video games. The show has earned hundreds of millions of dollars in income across their merchandising and media franchise.
Michael R. Cusack is an Australian animator, writer, director, producer, musician, voice actor, and internet personality. He is known as the co-creator of the Adult Swim animated series Smiling Friends (2022–present), in which he voiced the characters Pim, Allan, and various others. He is also the creator of the Adult Swim animated series YOLO (2020–present) and the Hulu animated sitcom Koala Man (2023–present).
High on Life is a comedic first-person shooter game with action-adventure and Metroidvania elements. It takes place in a science fiction world which features talking guns. It was created by Justin Roiland and developed and published by Squanch Games. The game was released on December 13, 2022 for Microsoft Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. It was later ported to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on July 22, 2023. The game received mixed reviews from critics, who were divided on its humor, while criticizing the technical issues upon launch.