In the nearly 30 years since they opened their doors, Relic have been an enormously influential studio. Responsible for lauded RTS series Homeworld, Dawn of War, and Company of Heroes, they also dabbled in other genres with third-person shooter The Outfit and the original Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine. Yet, despite this history, in 2024, when Relic were negotiating their sale from Sega to UK investment firm Emona Capita, CEO Justin Dowdeswell knew the rights to Company of Heroes had to be part of the deal. “Without it we would have been a dead studio,” he tells me.
Without naming names Dowdeswell points out that there are “numerous examples” of studios that weren’t able to survive on their name alone. Not only did Relic need the ability to make more games in the series that they were known for, but they also needed the income from back catalogue sales a series like Company of Heroes provides.
