I was searching for the latest on BHG news and thought I'd put this together for any discussion on the history, present and future for those interested:

BHG @ Wikipedia
BHG @ Mobygames
Brian Reynolds @ Linked In
Brian Reynolds @ Twitter

BHG was founded in February 2000 by four veteran game industry developers: Tim Train, David Inscore, Jason Coleman and Brian Reynolds.

BHG games include:
Rise of Nations (2003)
Rise of Nations: Thrones and Patriots expansion (2004)
Rise of Nations: Tactics (iOS , ?/cancelled)
Rise of Legends (2006)
Rise of Legends expansion (2007?/cancelled)
Catan (2007)
Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties expansion (2007)
Rise of Nations 2 (2009?/cancelled)
Crucible: Forge of the Emperor aka Ascendant (2009?/cancelled)
God: The Game (2009?/cancelled)
DomiNations (2015)
Arcane Showdown (2020)

38 Studios games:
Kingdoms of Amalur: The Reckoning (2012)
Kingdoms of Amalur: The Reckoning 2 sequel (?/cancelled)
Project Copernicus (?/cancelled)

Epic Games/Epic Baltimore/Impossible Studio games:
Infinity Blade: Dungeons (2013?/cancelled)

Brian Reynolds' Zynga/Secret New Co/Sparkypants games:
Frontierville/The Pioneer Trail (2010)
CityVille 2 (2012)
Leap Day (2013)
DomiNations (2015)
Dropzone (2016)

BHG was acquired by THQ in 2008 and probably worked on Crucible: Forge of the Emperor aka Ascendant. In 2009 38 Studios acquired BHG and took some of the work on Ascendant and worked on Kingdoms of Amalur and the Copernicus mmo. THQ eventually went defunct and was sold to Ubisoft in 2013. In 2012 38 Studios became defunct due to a failed loan and some of the members formed a new game studio, Epic Baltimore (part of Epic Games) which was later renamed to Impossible Studios which closed in 2013. BHG and 38 Studios also became defunct in 2012.

In 2009 Brian Reynolds joined Zynga and worked on various games such as Frontierville/The Pioneer Trail and Cityville 2. Jason Coleman and others from BHG formed Sparkypants in 2011 and made Leap Day and Save Bunnies. In 2013 CityVille 2 was closed and Brian Reynolds formed Secret New Co. and released DomiNations in 2015.

As reported here the rights to Rise of Nations and Rise of Legends were sold at an auction sometime in December 2013. Rise of Nations: Extended Edition was re-released by Skybox Games on Steam in 2014 here. Fans can write to Skybox here to submit feedback about the updated Rise of Nations and a future Rise of Legends re-release.


Some possible options and future news for BHG/Rise of Nations fans:

Info on BHG games copyright here.

Gog.com also had a request wishlist feature and both Rise of Nations and Rise of Legends are being requested on there.

Buy RON:EE @ Steam
RON @ Steam
RON entry @ Steam database
Discussion @ Steam
Steam store page
Steam community page
Steam discussions
RON @ Gog.com
ROL @ Gog.com

- Steam acquired Rise of Nations and Rise of Legends. Let's hope they do some research and reach out to any fan communities like Heavengames when they do work on those projects - contact them here. There is a Steam petition for RON & ROL here.
- Gog.com may be also be a good option for both games, Desura.com is also another option.
- A petition by fans to make a new Rise of Nations type game is here. In 2014 Microsoft formed Decisive Games and was hiring - "...is building a studio that will bring the next installment in a beloved strategy game franchise to the next generation of gamers around the world."
- A discussion named Project Resurrection of how to revive/mod or make a new RON game by fans is here.
- You can read more about Rise of Legends and the cancelled BHG games here as well as related fantasy rts games.
- Motter has released a fan made expansion, campaign heroes in skirmish mod and new nations mod for Rise of Legends here.
- Another option is to wait and see how the open-source ancient military rts game 0 AD will turn out. Modders could use the game to create their own Rise of Nations sequel or related game using 0 AD.
- Maybe some of the ex-BHG workers are interested in a crowdfund project for a new Rise of Nations or other rts game? Other rts games have been funded this way and there seems to be an interest for a new RON game if you take a look anywhere on the internet...

[This message has been edited by alincarpetman (edited 03-21-2021 @ 02:15 PM).]