Catalyst Game Labs was created in May 2007 by InMediaRes

InMediaRes

InMediaRes Productions, LLC was founded in 2003 by Loren & Heather Coleman, Tara & Randall N. Bills and Philip DeLuca with the express purpose of licensing the rights to publish new, canon Classic BattleTech fiction to the Internet from WizKids. Wizkids granted this license to IMR in the fall of...

 Productions, LLC for the purpose of publishing print Classic BattleTech

BattleTech

BattleTech is a wargaming and science fiction franchise launched by FASA Corporation in 1984, acquired by WizKids in 2000, and owned since 2003 by Topps. The series began with FASA's debut of the board game BattleTech by Jordan Weisman and L...

and Shadowrun

Shadowrun

Shadowrun is a role-playing game set in a near-future fictional universe in which cybernetics, magic and fantasy creatures co-exist. It combines genres of cyberpunk, urban fantasy and crime, with occasional elements of conspiracy fiction, horror, and detective fiction.The original game has spawned...

sourcebooks. In June 2007, Wizkids

WizKids

WizKids, Inc. is an American New Jersey-based company that first made its mark in the game industry producing collectible miniatures wargames. WizKids was purchased by and is a subsidiary of National Entertainment Collectibles Association. The company was founded in 2000 by Jordan Weisman, a...

 transferred the licenses for both Classic BattleTech and Shadowrun from FanPro's United States subsidiary to Catalyst, and in June 2008, Catalyst announced new novels for Shadowrun and Classic BattleTech, as well as the MechWarrior series.

Most of the individuals responsible for the success of both CBT and Shadowrun at FanPro moved to Catalyst when it acquired the licenses.

Properties & Expansion

At the 2008 Gen Con

Gen Con

Gen Con is one of the largest and most prominent annual gaming conventions in North America. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card-style games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, board games, live action role-playing games, collectible card games, non-collectible...

, Catalyst Game Labs announced it was entering the casual gaming business (card oriented games) with new games Paparazzi & Ooze the Cook.

• Paparazzi - The card game casts players as celebrity-hounding paparazzi, competing with each other to take the best pictures of the biggest (and most controversial) stars in Hollywood. The game was created by Adam Jury, who has worked on previous CGL products such as Classic Battletech
  BattleTech
  BattleTech is a wargaming and science fiction franchise launched by FASA Corporation in 1984, acquired by WizKids in 2000, and owned since 2003 by Topps. The series began with FASA's debut of the board game BattleTech by Jordan Weisman and L...
  
   & Shadowrun
  Shadowrun
  Shadowrun is a role-playing game set in a near-future fictional universe in which cybernetics, magic and fantasy creatures co-exist. It combines genres of cyberpunk, urban fantasy and crime, with occasional elements of conspiracy fiction, horror, and detective fiction.The original game has spawned...
  
  .

• Ooze the Cook - a light-hearted “beer and pretzels” game where up to four players take on the roles of slimes and jellies living in a tavern, trying to grow large enough to eat the tavern’s patrons and cook. The game features several random elements meant to symbolize the Oozes’ lack of cognitive thinking. The art for the game will be provided by John Kovalic (Dork Tower, Munchkin).

It was also announced that a new game will be released/published by CGL in the first quarter of 2009, named Leviathans.

• Leviathans is a miniatures wargame about lighter-than-air battleships due out in late 2011. The game is set in an alternative version of the early 20th century.