Relic was started in 1997 by Alex Garden and Luke Moloney to begin development of their new game Homeworld. The game immediately impressed the gaming community at 1998's E3 and continued to do so at 1999's. When it was released it was a critical success, and won several awards, giving Relic a spotlight in the gaming industry. However, when Homeworld 2 was released after a troublesome development, in which the game was radically redesigned several times, it failed to be the hoped-for financial success, but also failed to score as high with the critics.