Meteor Entertainment

About Meteor Entertainment

Meteor Entertainment was a Seattle-based video game publisher founded in 2011, primarily known for publishing the free-to-play, multiplayer mech combat game, *Hawken*. The company was established with the ambitious goal of disrupting the traditional gaming market by delivering a high-quality, direct-to-consumer experience. Led by CEO Mark Long, a video game industry veteran who had previously founded Zombie Studios, the company was backed by prominent venture capital firms. Long was specifically recruited by investors Benchmark and FirstMark Capital to acquire *Hawken*'s developer, Adhesive Games, and replicate the global success they had seen with Riot Games' *League of Legends*.

The company operated on a free-to-play (F2P) business model, a strategy that was rapidly gaining traction at the time. Revenue was generated through microtransactions, where players could purchase in-game items for convenience and customization, such as cosmetic upgrades for their mechs, without creating a "pay-to-win" environment. This model was supported by a robust back-end payment platform to handle virtual goods across numerous currencies globally. Meteor Entertainment's primary market was core PC gamers, with plans for a significant push into the Chinese market.

The flagship product, *Hawken*, was a fast-paced, first-person shooter set in a post-apocalyptic world where players pilot giant fighting robots. Developed by the independent studio Adhesive Games, *Hawken* was noted for its impressive visuals, built on the Unreal Development Kit, and intense combat. Meteor's strategy extended beyond the game itself, employing a transmedia approach to build the brand through web series, comics, and graphic novels to attract and retain a dedicated player community without relying on traditional paid advertising. The company scaled rapidly, growing to a global team of over 100 people with offices in Seattle, Los Angeles, and Budapest. After raising a total of $28 million in funding and launching *Hawken*'s open beta in December 2012, the company struggled to maintain momentum. In early 2014, Meteor Entertainment closed its Seattle office, and its assets, including the *Hawken* IP, were acquired by Reloaded Games in March 2015.