Oddworld Inhabitants

Oddworld Inhabitants
Company typePrivate
IndustryVideo games, films, television
FoundedSeptember 1994; 29 years ago (1994-09) in San Luis Obispo, California
FounderLorne Lanning
Sherry McKenna
Headquarters
Emeryville, California
,
United States
Key people
Sherry McKenna (CEO)
Lorne Lanning (president)
Bennie Terry (executive producer)
Products
WebsiteOddworld.com

Oddworld Inhabitants Inc. is an American video game, film and television company founded in 1994 by special-effects and computer-animation veterans Sherry McKenna and Lorne Lanning. The company is primarily known for the Oddworld, series of video games about the fictional planet of Oddworld and its native creatures. The series debuted with Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee in 1997 and continued with Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee in 2001 but the studio has also developed standalone titles Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus in 1998 and Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath in 2005.

Oddworld Inhabitants took a break from game development for a time following the release of Stranger's Wrath, even though it had already begun preliminary work on its next Oddworld title, The Brutal Ballad of Fangus Klot. However, it remained an active, operating company during this period, primarily through the development of a movie called Citizen Siege, though to this day it has not been released.[1]

The company returned to the video game industry with UK-based developer Just Add Water in resurrecting the Oddworld franchise through remastering existing titles and developing new ones.[2] In the March 2011, Lorne Lanning confirmed that a high definition rebuild of the studio's first game, was being developed by Just Add Water,[3] called Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty![4] It was released for PlayStation 4 on 22 July 2014,[5] 25 February 2015 for PC, Mac and Linux,[6] 27 March 2015 for Xbox One,[7] 21 April 2015 for PlayStation 3,[8] 19 January 2016 for PlayStation Vita,[9] and 11 February 2016 for the Wii U.[10] On 14 March 2016, Oddworld Inhabitants announced their next title, Oddworld: Soulstorm,[11] with a release aim of 2018. The release date has been pushed back to 2019, then again to 2020 and then finally 2021, with an official release date of April 6, 2021, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and the Epic Games Store[12]

  1. ^ "Q&A: Oddworld's Lorne Lanning and Sherry McKenna". Gamespot. 30 October 2006. Archived from the original on 13 August 2012. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
  2. ^ "Maxis Co-Founder Confirms Oddworld Return". Spong. Retrieved 3 March 2012.
  3. ^ McElroy, Griffin (29 January 2011). "Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee HD remake in development at Just Add Water". Joystiq. Retrieved 3 March 2012.
  4. ^ "Round-up of Oddworld News at E3". Oddworld Inhabitants. 11 June 2013. Archived from the original on 24 October 2014. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
  5. ^ "Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty release date set for July on PS4". Eurogamer. 10 June 2014. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  6. ^ "Abe Is Back – Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty PC Trailer". Oddworld Inhabitants. 23 February 2015. Archived from the original on 27 February 2015. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
  7. ^ "Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty Xbox One Release Date". Oddworld Inhabitants. 20 March 2015. Archived from the original on 21 March 2015. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
  8. ^ "Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty PlayStation 3 Release Date". Oddworld Inhabitants. 20 April 2015. Archived from the original on 27 January 2016. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
  9. ^ "Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty Launches On PS Vita". Oddworld Inhabitants. 18 January 2016. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  10. ^ "New 'n' Tasty Gets Wii U Release Date". Oddworld Inhabitants. 2 February 2016. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  11. ^ "ODDWORLD: SOULSTORM". Oddworld Inhabitants. 14 March 2016. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
  12. ^ TAKAHASHI, Dean (19 March 2019). "Oddworld: Soulstorm Visuals Debut at Unity Event". VentureBeat. Retrieved 19 April 2019.