Wideload Games was an American video game developer located in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...

. It was founded in 2003 by

Alexander Seropian Alexander Seropian (born 1969) is an American video game developer, one of the initial founders and later president of Bungie, the developer of the ''Marathon (video game), Marathon'', ''Myth (series), Myth'', and ''Halo (series), Halo'' video ga ...

—the co-founder of

Bungie Bungie, Inc. is an American video game company based in Bellevue, Washington. It is a studio owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The company was established in May 1991 by Alex Seropian, who later brought in programmer Jason Jones afte ...

and head behind the games '' Halo: Combat Evolved'', ''

Myth Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrati ...

'', and ''

Marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair di ...

''—and six other former Bungie employees three years after Bungie's acquisition by

Microsoft Corporation Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washingt ...

. Wideload focused on a core team and many external developers in developing games. The goal was to counteract the growing development costs associated with the current game industry, and to prove that smaller companies with relatively modest funds could make a game that could still sell well compared to releases from larger corporations. Wideload's first project was '' Stubbs the Zombie in "Rebel Without a Pulse"'', a 3D-

action-adventure game The action-adventure genre is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Typically, pure adventure games have situational problems for the player to solve to complete a storyli ...

in which the player takes control of the zombie Stubbs in a plot filled with black humor. It was published in fall 2005 for

Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and software en ...

, Microsoft Windows- PCs, and

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by th ...

Aspyr Aspyr Media, Inc. (pronounced " aspire") is an American video game developer and publisher founded by Michael Rogers and Ted Staloch in Austin, Texas. Originally founded to bring top gaming titles to macOS, the company, since 2005, has become a ...

. Their sophomore project, '' Hail to the Chimp'', was released June 23, 2008 by Gamecock Media Group for

seventh-generation consoles 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 Computer Entertainment's PlayStation 3 on November 17, 2006, and Nint ...

. Additionally, Wideload released information on their newer group, Wideload Shorts. Wideload Shorts specialized in developing smaller-scale games for services such as

Xbox Live Arcade Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) is a digital video game download service available through the Xbox Games Store, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360. It focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independen ...

. Their first game from Wideload Shorts, Cyclomite, was released in March 2008 on the InstantAction game platform. Wideload Games was acquired on September 8, 2009, by

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Disney Stud ...

. Under the

Disney Interactive Disney Interactive is an American video game and internet company that oversaw various websites and interactive media owned by The Walt Disney Company. History 1995–1996: Formation and beginnings In December 1994, Disney announced that it ...

name, Wideload would develop original video game properties for Disney. They developed '' Guilty Party''. After Disney Interactive underwent corporate restructuring, Wideload was reassigned to make mobile games, beginning with Avengers Initiative, featuring Marvel superheroes. Wideload Games was officially shut down by Disney on March 6, 2014.

References

External links

Wideload Games
entry at

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...

Defunct video game companies of the United States Video game development companies Video game companies established in 2003 Video game companies disestablished in 2014 Disney acquisitions Defunct companies based in Chicago {{US-videogame-company-stub