This shift includes the creation of three new wholly-owned development studios:
Titan Forge Games is the largest of Hi-Rez’s in house studios, with a player base in excess of 30 million, Titan Forge Games houses the team behind the BAFTA award-winning game SMITE. Delivering god-like, action-packed and accessible videogame worlds, with mythological origins and modern themes. They are devoted to exploring and investing in the potential that the SMITE universe offers players, enabling a global audience to experience competition on an epic scale with a worldwide cast.
Evil Mojo Games enchants players with living, free-to-play worlds (and also magic). Their game Paladins has attracted more than 30 million players on PC, PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. Evil Mojo Games believes the best games are bigger than a box can contain; their epic stories and endlessly rewarding gameplay are brought to life through constant updates. Working hand-in-hand with its strong community, Evil Mojo Games will one day rule the world.
Heroic Leap is the studio behind Realm Royale, a class-based game set in a fantasy world. Realm Royale took the gaming world by storm when it entered Early Access this summer, welcoming over two million players just in its first week. Heroic Leap believes in delivering a fierce competitive landscape while building boundless amounts of exciting experiences for any player to enjoy. Heroic Leap’s bold approach sees them leading the charge of modernizing what players cherish about the magic of gaming.
Chris Larson, who previously served as Executive Producer for SMITE & Paladins, will oversee these studios as General Manager, First Party Studios. The existing teams working on each game will transition entirely to their new studio, hiring additional staff to increase their capabilities for the upcoming year. Those interested in applying should visit hirezstudios.com/careers.
“The establishment of Titan Forge, Heroic Leap and Evil Mojo as standalone studios enables each of our development teams to fulfill their maximum potential and stay hyper focused on serving their individual player communities,” said Larson. “We view game operation as a marathon, not a sprint. Our games are built to provide near constant updates over many years. By giving each major game its own dedicated studio and identity, we empower them to control their own destiny and focus exclusively on their player communities, while still having access to our leading shared publishing services.”
Hi-Rez’s games have been played by more than 70 million people worldwide, across PC, Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android. With three games regularly among the Top 10 free-to-play games on Steam, Hi-Rez is rare among Western developers. The publisher has rare expertise having launched multiple games-as-a-service titles across all major platforms.
“Our new Hi-Rez Publishing Group is designed as a service organization, whose sole mission is to enable each of our partner studios to reach their full potential and best serve their respective gamer communities,” said Stew Chisam, President of Hi-Rez Studios, and head of Hi-Rez Publishing. “By structuring ourselves in this manner, we allow the organization to scale to multiple games more easily, while ensuring our existing game communities receive a better, more focused service than ever before.”
Two service companies will operate under the Hi-Rez umbrella, serving both wholly owned and partner game studios:
- Skillshot Media, focusing on building player communities through esports.
- Alacrity Arthouse offering technical art services including cinematic video creation, concept art, 3D modeling, rigging, animation, FX, art pipeline consultation and production.
“We want each person under the Hi-Rez umbrella to be focused on building amazing player communities around incredibly creative and constantly evolving games,” said Chisam. “By organizing in this way, we give each group a distinct mission around this common goal. We believe this is the best approach to unleash our creative talent and serve our players, while continuing to grow.”