- Larian Studios
Infobox Company
company_name = Larian Studios
company_
company_type =
foundation = 1996
location_city =Oudenaarde
location_country =Belgium
key_people =Swen Vincke (founder )
industry = Interactive entertainment
products =LEDWars ,Divine Divinity ,Beyond Divinity ,Divinity 2 – Ego Draconis ,KetNetKick
revenue =
operating_income =
net_income =
num_employees =Larian Studios is a Belgian game developer which was founded in 1996 [ [http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/contractor_display.php?contractor_id=183 Larian company information] ] by Swen Vincke who derived its' name from his dog, Pilar [ [http://www.mobygames.com/company/larian-studios Trivia about company name] ] . It currently focuses on developing Computer Role-Playing and educational games, apart from LEDWars [ [http://www.larian.com/ledwars.php LEDWars Official site] ] which is a hardcore strategy game and a number of casino games(more references needed) [ [http://www.rpgplanet.com/features/firstlooks/divinity/ Larian Casino Games] . ]
Larian's first project was called LMK(The Lady, The Mage and the Knight). However, they were unable to gain the recognition of any publishers as none believed they were capable of creating a game. [ [http://www.fragland.net/specials/Larian-Studios-about-Divine-Divinity/1/ Paragraph 5, Lines 3-4: Publishing industry skeptical] ] In order to rectify this and to prove them wrong, LEDWars(a strategy game) was developed within 5 months and published by Ionos in 1997. [ [http://www.mobygames.com/game/led-wars Article about LEDWars at MobyGames] ] As a result, LMK soon evolved into a collaborative project between Larian Studios and Attic Entertainment. Due to various problems between the 2 development studios which resulted in a split, this project was later abandoned in 1999. [ [http://72.14.203.104/translate_c?hl=en&langpair=de%7Cen&u=http://web.archive.org/web/20010815212428/www.larian.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/000408.html The truth about LMK(by Lar also known as Swen)] ]
In 2002, Larian completed work on which was then published under the name
Divine Divinity by CDV [ [http://www.mobygames.com/game/divine-divinity Information about Divine Divinity at MobyGames] ] . In 2004,Beyond Divinity , expansion toDivine Divinity was published under 2 editions: the standard version by Ubisoft Entertainment GmbH [ [http://www.mobygames.com/game/beyond-divinity Information about Beyond Divinity Standard Edition at MobyGames] ] and the deluxe version by MediaMix Benelux which contained Divine Divinity, Beyond Divinity and a novella byRhianna Pratchett called "Son of Chaos". [ [http://www.mobygames.com/game/beyond-divinity-deluxe-edition Information about Beyond Divinity Deluxe Edition at MobyGames] ]In the same year(2004), KetnetKick(an educational and the first PC2TV game ever created) was developed for Ketnet and released by Transposia. [ [http://www.mobygames.com/game/ketnetkick KetnetKick] ] . In 2006, Beyond Divinity was re-released under Gold Games 9 by Ubisoft Entertainment SA which was a set of 10 games on 6 DVDs. [ [http://www.mobygames.com/game/gold-games-9 Information about Gold Games 9 at MobyGames] ]
As of 2008, Larian is still working on the sequel to Divine Divinity which is currently titled "Ego Draconis" and is scheduled to be released on the PS3, the XBox 360 and the PC [ [http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=21557 ISM signs up Larian Studios] ] . At the same time,
AdventureRock [ [http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/adventurerock AdventureRock] ] , an online virtual world was completed and released in March 2008.Larian Studios can be found at http://www.larian.com
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