Chaos is Coming
Chaos is Coming
Chaos is Coming
Chaos is Coming
What started as a seed has germinated into an incredible story of planets, races, and mythology.
Chaos Agents Global Premiere: Playtest Launch with Richard Garfield
On September 29th, Richard Garfield and the Popularium team unveiled the details and gameplay of Chaos Agents to the world in an exclusive, invite-only event in Seattle, Washington. Over the course of an evening, Richard Garfield, co-founder of Popularium and creator of Magic: The Gathering, introduced his old friend Peter Adkison, founder of Wizards of the Coast, to his new super-secret game Chaos Agents, and get Peter ready for the first-ever Chaos Agents Tournament.
Popularium was founded by Richard Garfield, Jon Bankard, and Arka Ray to build a playground-lab hybrid from which the next generation of innovative gameplay experiences would emerge, with a focus on player choice, empowerment, and having fun. Chaos Agents, our first game, is the world’s first Autobattler-Royale, combining the best of Autobattler and Battle Royale games with globally unique heroes. Each Chaos Agent is unique in the way they look, play, and win, and only one player at a time can play with that Agent. Every player has the chance to become the global expert on playing their Chaos Agents, and building the greatest Brokerage House the Firmament has ever seen.
From the creation of a rich, detailed story universe to the building out of valuable IP, along with great development and design progress, we are incredibly grateful to our amazing team, player community, friends, family, investors, and advisors who have supported us every step of the way.
We’re so glad to have you with us on this journey.
Let Chaos Reign!
The World is a Playground: The Philosophy Driving Popularium
Popularium was founded by a team who share a common belief — that games should be fun and built in concert with the community. We go where our team knows the fun is buried and work with our community to unearth the joyful heart of a new game. Our quest for fun has led us to create not just games but new genres of games. Magic: The Gathering brought TCGs to the world, Hearthstone set the standard for digital card games, Xbox Live connected gamers on consoles — and PCs — together for the first time.
Today, the entire world is the gamer’s playground. Gaming is the fastest growing sector of the entertainment industry. Rapid expansion and a plethora of choices in the manner and scope of gaming experiences are wresting power from the hands of studios, who once had unlimited control over which games to produce, build, and distribute, and placing this power in the hands of gamers. Gamers have the tools, time, and network access to play, experience, watch, and even build games their way. Streaming platforms have become global hubs of community, uniting — and activating — legions of audiences. Gamers are pushing the boundary of user generated content which blurs the line between fan and creator.
Gaming’s future lies in gamer empowerment, and empowering gamers through fun, innovative, and evolutionary games and experiences is Popularium’s mission.
The World is a Playground
From The Lydion Magazine comes The World is a Playground; a five-part series on gaming. Each edition focuses on a unique emerging territory–the rise of streaming platforms, the role of community, gamification, and digital assets–on the shifting landscape of the gaming industry.
Part 1: Games as Storytelling Engines
In Part 1, Popularium team members Jon Bankard, Jen Yi, Chris Ryall, Arka Ray, and others explore the evolution of games into engines for the creation of stories driven by gamers, who in turn are turning into content creators with the advent of streaming.
Part 2: All for One and One for All
In Part 2, gaming industry veterans such as David Hoppe (Gen Con), Dave Nemetz (Inverse, Bleacher Report) and rising stars such as Jyro Blade and Kore Bundt dive deep into the growing role and importance of gaming communities in the development process of games and the changing relationship between developers and their communities through evolving release models such as Early Access.
Popularium Stories
Popularium is comprised of dreamers from across the gaming, entertainment, and tech worlds — all of whom are passionate about gaming and storytelling in all their forms.
Our love of games is about more than the engaging, momentary entertainment they can offer. We also appreciate gameplay for offering rich, valuable experiences that transport us to fantastic new worlds.
Just as well-developed game worlds provide stories that help us make sense of the seeming chaos of the real world, we in turn want to offer story-driven games that help others create meaningful experiences of their own.
As a way to introduce ourselves and our community, we’re happy to share some of our stories that dive into our collective love of gaming, and reveal the motivations behind the games and experiences we are building at Popularium.
My Nights In The Old Republic
I plop down on the carpet as the familiar Star Wars opening crawl takes over the TV screen, filling me in on events that occurred a long, long time ago. 4000 years before Episode I. Whoa. That was unexpected. That must be the “old” in Old Republic.
Love & Smash Brothers
There is just something about Super Smash Bros. that takes even the sweetest and quietest among us and morphs them into a shit-talker of the highest order.
Life is Strange
I’m a 31-year-old man on my third glass of whiskey, and a game where you play as a high-school girl is bringing me to tears.