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.
Through the opening, High Voltage was able to take advantage of local financial incentives, including a performance-based grant to cover relocation costs, workforce training programs and a digital media incentive.
Prior to the announcement, Ganofsky also considered opening the studio in
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to t ...
or
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...
, but found New Orleans to be a better cultural fit for High Voltage.
As a result, talks between economic development leaders in the area and Ganofsky began in October 2013.
In December 2020, High Voltage Software was acquired by
Keywords Studios for an initial consideration of in cash and in shares, as well as additional for performance targets to be met by December 31, 2021.
Unreleased Projects
''The Grinder''
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
''Red Steel 2'' is a first-person shooter/hack and slash video game developed by Ubisoft Paris for the Wii video game console. It is a stand-alone sequel to '' Red Steel''. The game was released worldwide in March 2010. The trailer premiered at ...
'' 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.
The developers also designed PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC versions of the game,
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.
After careful consideration, they decided to not only redesign the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC versions as a top-down shooter,
[ but also change the game's setting, plot and character designs to a substantial degree.]The Conduit
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...
''.
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.
Games developed
Canceled
* '' Thea Realm Fighters'' (Jaguar)
* ''Kid Vid Grid
''Kid Vid Grid'' is a tile-matching full motion video puzzle game developed by Geffen Records and published by Jasmine Multimedia Publishing for Windows in 1994. It is a spin-off of the original '' Vid Grid'', which was released on the same ye ...
'' (Jaguar)
* ''Country Vid Grid
''Country Vid Grid'' is a tile-matching full motion video puzzle game developed by Geffen Records and published by Jasmine Multimedia Publishing for Windows in May 1995. It is a spin-off of the original '' Vid Grid'', which was released in Jun ...
'' (Jaguar)
* ''The Grinder'' (Wii, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows)
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
1993 establishments in Illinois
2020 mergers and acquisitions
American companies established in 1993
American subsidiaries of foreign companies
Companies based in Cook County, Illinois
Hoffman Estates, Illinois
Keywords Studios
Video game companies established in 1993
Video game companies of the United States
Video game development companies
Video game publishers