please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages this article is written like a personal reflection or opinion essay that states the wikipedia editor s personal feelings about a topic rather than the opinions of experts . please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style . november 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message this article may be too long to read and navigate comfortably . please consider splitting content into sub articles condensing it or adding or removing subheadings . april 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message oddworld inhabitants industry video games films founded san luis obispo california september 1994 founder lorne lanning sherry mckenna headquarters berkeley california formerly san luis obispo california united states key people sherry mckenna ceo lorne lanning president bennie terry executive producer products oddworld abe s oddysee oddworld abe s exoddus oddworld munch s oddysee oddworld stranger s wrath oddworld stranger s wrath hd oddworld ; munch s oddysee hd oddworld new n tasty website oddworld.com oddworld inhabitants inc. is an american video game developer founded in 1994 by special effects and computer animation veterans sherry mckenna and lorne lanning . the company is primarily known for the incomplete oddworld quintology a series of award winning 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 issue of electronic gaming monthly 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 the ps4 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 with a release aim of the latter half of 2017 . 11 contents 1 history 1.1 founding 1.2 video game development era 1997 2005 1.2.1 oddworld abe s oddysee 1997 1.2.2 oddworld abe s exoddus 1998 1.2.3 oddworld munch s oddysee 2001 1.2.4 oddworld stranger s wrath 2005 1.3 citizen siege era 2005 2009 1.3.1 solomon s baby 1.3.2 oddworld closes its doors 1.3.3 citizen siege and wage wars 1.3.4 oddworld film 1.3.5 xmobb by oddmob inc. 1.4 just add water partnership 2009 2015 1.4.1 digital distribution 1.4.2 just add water releases 1.4.3 new n tasty 1.5 adept games partnership 1.6 square one games 1.7 playstation 4 game development 1.8 xbox relationship 1.9 new oddworld partner company 1.10 frima studio partnership and return to video game development 2 purpose 3 marketing 4 released titles 4.1 oddworld abe s oddysee 4.2 oddworld abe s exoddus 4.3 oddworld munch s oddysee 4.4 oddworld stranger s wrath 4.5 oddboxx 4.6 abeboxx 4.7 oddworld new n tasty 4.8 hd remasters 4.9 other ports 5 upcoming titles 5.1 oddworld soulstorm 5.2 the brutal ballad of fangus klot 5.3 oddworld hand of odd 6 future 7 possible games 8 reception 9 merchandise 10 references 11 external links history edit founding edit founded in 1994 oddworld inhabitants came from the partnership between two very different talents of the film industry lorne lanning and sherry mckenna . lorne lanning creative director and president of oddworld inhabitants was trained as a painter 12 and had his own factory of artists . 13 when he was introduced to 3d computer graphics in the 1980s he fell in love with this new form of art and tried desperately to find work in an industry where the work was being done only in a few companies around the world . 14 while studying at the school of visual arts in new york city and then the california institute of the arts lanning had gained experience working on an aerospace computer program which was noticed by trw aerospace 14 who offered him the position of technical director at the trw engineering visualization lab in california . 15 he then used his bfa in character animation to enter hollywood and work on feature films and advertisements for award winning visual effects studio rhythm and hues where he met sherry mckenna . 16 mckenna ceo of oddworld inhabitants confessed to have come from a rich family and perfect childhood 17 to become a successful producer and hollywood executive in computer animation . 16 lanning described her as the go to person in computer graphics ... and a pioneering producer in visual effects 15 who had the know how and power in business to make things happen 18 and the first person he met in hollywood that would cut to the chase and be direct about what she thought of something . 17 it was here in 1991 that these two veterans of hollywood would work together on computer animation rights . in 1992 lanning began posing the idea of starting oddworld inhabitants with mckenna . 19 after working with 3d animation in films and television he correctly predicted that they would be integrated into video games exploding the medium into the future . 19 when he had heard the rumour of a new gaming console called the playstation 20 he asked mckenna if she would partner with him in starting a company by combining her skills in business and the film industry with his knowledge in computer graphics animation . he showed her doom running on a pc but mckenna was initially not very receptive to the idea 17 believing games to be ugly and confusing 16 and liking lanning s story of abe for a movie rather than a video game . 21 lanning explained that it was an economic connection they needed to make because the medium was ready to take off and that they could be the cecil b. demilles of video games . 17 after two years of convincing and hearing lanning tell his story of abe 21 she eventually agreed to go along but he had to come up with the start up money 22 lanning went out and presented his idea for what would later become oddworld abe s oddysee and discovered two things worked in his favour his time in aerospace technology made him the only developer with any experience in 3d computer animation at a time when the video game industry was ready to enter the 3d computer animation landscape ; and the venture capitalist investors were responsive to hearing that someone would be approaching content in a more filmic storytelling deeply character driven way . 14 they were also very inexperienced in the gaming landscape which allowed him to get away with a story that otherwise wouldn t have been accepted . 19 lanning returned to mckenna with three and a half million dollars that he borrowed based on his 3d expertise 19 and together they moved from hollywood to san luis obispo in september 1994 where oddworld inhabitants was born . video game development era 1997 2005 edit oddworld abe s oddysee 1997 edit the first game to come out of oddworld inhabitants inc. was 1997 s oddworld abe s oddysee a 2d side scrolling platform game published by gt interactive for playstation and pc . despite lanning borrowing money to start the company based on his 3d expertise he chose to develop the game as a 2d platformer . he saw that the quality of 3d on the gaming systems at the time were poor so his expertise went into pre rendering 3d bitmaps because the unique look would distinguish them from all other games being produced in 3d at the time . 14 they used flip screens to make a flip book effect with the pre rendered bitmaps like digital paintings used as the background on each screen . production began in january 1995 with the original title soulstorm 17 before gt interactive changed the name in september 1996 and released 19 september 1997 . 23 the culmination of lorne lanning s unique artistic design and socioeconomic themes the game proved to be a commercial and critical hit 24 25 26 27 sold 3.5 million units 28 made 180 million dollars 29 and won almost 30 prestigious industry and print media awards . 30 31 the game tells the story of abe one of 100 mudokon creatures enslaved by industrialist glukkon creatures in a meat processing plant called rupturefarms on the planet oddworld . 32 when the glukkons find that the wildlife used to create their meat products are becoming extinct they decide to use the mudokons in their next product forcing abe to escape the plant and rescue his friends . 24 described as mysticism versus consumerism with a mega dose of twisted humor 33 the story represented beliefs deep and personal to creator lorne lanning that great art reflects back on us not necessarily what we want to see but what we need to face . 29 for lanning those beliefs infused his characterisation of the planet oddworld with abe s oddysee touching on just a small aspect of the larger picture that was the entire planet . his idea was for the theme of oddworld to be heavily woven with the dark side of globalization the dark side of the multi national fallout upon the human condition and for his games to touch on examples of those themes in the case of abe s oddysee capitalism third world exploitation the environment and the fast food industry with respect to the plight of the diamond miners in south africa and the de beers cartel that dominate diamond trading . 14 lanning disliked what capitalism did to the little guy 34 and wanted to create a meaningful dark reflection of our dysfunctional world wrapped up in a fantasy world where we could talk about the craziness of our capitalism but with a funny bone approach . 35 and this anti capitalist view infused the deeper meaning of abe s oddysee as the socio economic element of the story was set amongst the lower class slaving away in unsafe conditions unwillingly bending to the will of corporate suits ... to earn a few bucks for a day s worth of grueling often unrewarding work 36 the protagonist fighting back against his oppressors the glukkons represented lanning s desire for people in the real world to fight back against the abominable behavior of the world s most greedy multi national corporations 36 characterised by caricatures of ceos all power suits and cigars . 37 it should also be noted that the glukkons play a minor role in the gameplay of abe s oddysee and are only seen in the game s cutscenes . this was intentional as lanning wanted the primary antagonist to be the rupturefarms factory itself . the corporation is above and beyond any of its executives or employees or slaves . so by making players defeat rupturefarms as the end boss ... we thought it would add a bigger sense of climax