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| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | April 1993 |
| Founder | Kerry J. Ganofsky |
| Headquarters | , US |
Key people | |
| Products | |
Number of employees | 160 (2006) |
| Parent | Keywords Studios (2020–present) |
| Website | high-voltage.com |
High Voltage Software, Inc. (HVS) is an American video game developer based in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Founded in April 1993 by Kerry J. Ganofsky, the company is best known for developing Lego Racers (1999), Hunter: The Reckoning (2002) and The Conduit (2009).
High Voltage Software was founded by Kerry J. Ganofsky in April 1993, [1] following his graduation from college. [2] Out of Hoffman Estates, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, the company started out with four employees and used old doors set on top of sawhorses as desks. [2] In June 2006, the company had 160 employees. [3]
In 2008 interviews, High Voltage leadership expressed interest in improving the quality of contemporary third-party Wii games. The company developed Quantum3, a game engine that specifically targets Wii deployment. The engine itself had been used in several previous titles made by the developer, but was heavily upgraded for higher performance on Wii. [4] [5]
In December 2014, Ganofsky announced that High Voltage would be opening a satellite studio for the company in Place St. Charles in New Orleans. [2] The opening, scheduled for early 2015, would provide 80 new job opportunities in the area, with initial staff transferred from the company's Hoffman Estates headquarters. [2] [6] Through the opening, High Voltage was able to take advantage of local financial incentives, including a US$150,000 performance-based grant to cover relocation costs, workforce training programs and a digital media incentive. [2] [7] Prior to the announcement, Ganofsky also considered opening the studio in Georgia or Florida, but found New Orleans to be a better cultural fit for High Voltage. [2] As a result, talks between economic development leaders in the area and Ganofsky began in October 2013. [2]
In December 2020, High Voltage Software was acquired by Keywords Studios for an initial consideration of US$23.75 million in cash and $9.75 million in shares, as well as additional US$16.5 million for performance targets to be met by December 31, 2021. [8]
In the late 2000s, High Voltage began developing a horror-themed shooter called The Grinder. The game initially began production exclusively for the Wii, the developers, as well as potential publishers for The Grinder, became less confident that the game would be a success on that system, as there were multiple instances of similar hardcore and/or graphically violent games designed for the Wii, such as MadWorld , House of the Dead: Overkill and Red Steel 2 that failed to sell many copies. Development for the Wii version eventually began to wind down quietly by 2010, although High Voltage Software refused to state whether that version was officially cancelled. [9] The developers also designed PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC versions of the game, [10] which were initially going to play as first-person shooters like the Wii version, but plans for this ultimately fell through when it failed to appeal to candidate publishers and the developers realized that there was an ongoing oversatuation of the first-person shooter video game market. [9] After careful consideration, they decided to not only redesign the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC versions as a top-down shooter, [11] but also change the game's setting, plot and character designs to a substantial degree. [9]
In 2013, High Voltage Software, in an interview, implied that one significant reason why it was difficult to release The Grinder was because it was being developed during a time when the video game industry was more interested in well-established intellectual properties, rather than newly introduced ones like that of The Grinder. The company then expressed hope that they can be in better position to launch new intellectual properties like The Grinder when a new generation of video games began. [12] However, having lost substantial money and jobs from the troubled development of The Grinder, as well as poor sales of Conduit 2, the company decided not to revisit The Grinder. [9]
The GameCube is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64. As a sixth-generation console, the GameCube primarily competed with Sony's PlayStation 2 and Microsoft's Xbox.
Homebrew, when applied to video games, refers to software produced by hobbyists for proprietary video game consoles which are not intended to be user-programmable. The official documentation is often only available to licensed developers, and these systems may use storage formats that make distribution difficult, such as ROM cartridges or encrypted CD-ROMs. Many consoles have hardware restrictions to prevent unauthorized development.
WayForward Technologies, Inc. is an American independent video game developer and publisher based in Valencia, California. Founded in March 1990 by technology entrepreneur Voldi Way, WayForward started by developing games for consoles such as the Super NES and Sega Genesis, as well as TV games and PC educational software. In 1997, they relaunched their video games arm, placing the company as a contractor for publishers and working on a variety of licensed assets.
White Men Can't Jump is a 1995 basketball video game developed by High Voltage Software (HVS) and published by Atari for the Atari Jaguar. It is loosely based on the 1992 20th Century Fox film of the same name. The game features a loose version of basketball known as streetball. It can be played against computer-controlled opponents, or up to four human competitors using the Team Tap multitap.
Hunter: The Reckoning is a 2002 hack-and-slash third-person shooter video game developed by High Voltage Software and published by Interplay Entertainment for the Xbox and GameCube. It is based on the tabletop role-playing game of the same name, and is part of the larger World of Darkness series. Two sequels, Wayward and Redeemer, were both released in 2003.
Tomb Raider: Anniversary is an action-adventure video game developed by Crystal Dynamics and Buzz Monkey Software and published by Eidos Interactive in 2007 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, PlayStation Portable, Wii and mobile phones. It was later ported to OS X in 2008 and PlayStation 3 in 2011. The eighth overall entry in the Tomb Raider series and second in the Legend trilogy, Anniversary is a remake of the first Tomb Raider game, originally released in 1996.
The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detailed launch and game information announced later that month at the 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). As a seventh-generation console, it primarily competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii.
Ruiner Pinball is a 1995 pinball video game developed by High Voltage Software (HVS) and published by Atari Corporation for the Atari Jaguar. The game features two different pinball tables: the nuclear war-inspired Ruiner, and the medieval-themed Tower. Each table contains targets for the player to hit with the ball, increasing their score before the ball is lost. It was marketed as the first title to support the ProController, a redesigned Jaguar controller that added three more face buttons and two triggers.
The seventh generation of home video game consoles began on November 22, 2005, with the release of Microsoft's Xbox 360 home console. This was followed by the release of Sony's PlayStation 3 on November 17, 2006, and Nintendo's Wii on November 19, 2006. Each new console introduced new technologies. The Xbox 360 offered games rendered natively at high-definition video (HD) resolutions, the PlayStation 3 offered HD movie playback via a built-in 3D Blu-ray Disc player, and the Wii focused on integrating controllers with movement sensors as well as joysticks. Some Wii controllers could be moved about to control in-game actions, which enabled players to simulate real-world actions through movement during gameplay. By this generation, video game consoles had become an important part of the global IT infrastructure; it is estimated that video game consoles represented 25% of the world's general-purpose computational power in 2007.
WiiWare was a service that allowed Wii users to download games and applications specifically designed and developed for the Wii video game console made by Nintendo. These games and applications could only be purchased and downloaded from the Wii Shop Channel under the WiiWare section. Once the user had downloaded the game or application, it would appear in their Wii Menu or SD Card Menu as a new channel. WiiWare was a companion to the Virtual Console, which specializes in emulated games originally developed for other systems instead of original games.
The Conduit is a first-person shooter video game developed by High Voltage Software for the Wii console and Android. The Conduit was revealed on April 17, 2008, and on October 29, 2008, the developer announced that Sega had signed on to be the game's publisher. The game was released in North America on June 23, 2009, in Europe on July 10, 2009, and in Australia on July 16, 2009.
Zoombies: Animales de la Muerte is a shoot 'em up video game for iOS developed by and published by High Voltage Software in 2013.
Toy Story Mania! is a 2009 video game published by Disney Interactive Studios and developed by Papaya Studio for the Wii and PC versions and by High Voltage Software for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions. It is based on the Toy Story Midway Mania! attraction located at Disney's California Adventure and Disney's Hollywood Studios, which was inspired by the Toy Story movie series produced by Pixar. The game features single-player and multi-player shooting-gallery style gameplay.
Tournament of Legends is a fighting video game developed by High Voltage Software for the Wii console.
Kinect is a discontinued line of motion sensing input devices produced by Microsoft and first released in 2010. The devices generally contain RGB cameras, and infrared projectors and detectors that map depth through either structured light or time of flight calculations, which can in turn be used to perform real-time gesture recognition and body skeletal detection, among other capabilities. They also contain microphones that can be used for speech recognition and voice control.
Platform exclusivity refers to the status of a video game being developed for and released only on certain platforms. Most commonly, it refers to only being released on a specific video game console or through a specific vendor's platforms—either permanently, or for a definite period of time.
Conduit 2 is a first-person shooter video game developed by High Voltage Software for the Wii video game console. It is the sequel to The Conduit. The definite article of the original title was dropped during development as the developers considered it "too much of a mouthful".
Video gaming in the United States is one of the fastest-growing entertainment industries in the country. The American video game industry is the largest video game industry in the world. According to a 2020 study released by the Entertainment Software Association, the yearly economic output of the American video game industry in 2019 was $90.3 billion, supporting over 429,000 American jobs. With an average yearly salary of about $121,000, the latter figure includes over 143,000 individuals who are directly employed by the video game business. Additionally, activities connected to the video game business generate $12.6 billion in federal, state, and local taxes each year. World Economic Forum estimates that by 2025 the American gaming industry will reach $42.3 billion while worldwide gaming industry will possibly reach US$270 billion. The United States is one of the nations with the largest influence in the video game industry, with video games representing a significant part of its economy.
The eighth generation of video game consoles began in 2012, and consists of four home video game consoles: the Wii U released in 2012, the PlayStation 4 family in 2013, the Xbox One family in 2013, and the Nintendo Switch family in 2017.
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