High Voltage Software

High Voltage Software, Inc.

Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Video games
Founded	April 1993; 31 years ago (1993-04)
Founder	Kerry J. Ganofsky
Headquarters	Hoffman Estates, Illinois , US
Key people	Kerry J. Ganofsky (CEO) Eric Nofsinger (CCO) Jake Fitch (CFO) Anthony Glueck (CTO)
Products	Lego Racers The Conduit Saints Row: Gat out of Hell
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).

History

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]

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 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]

Games developed

Year	Title	Platform(s)	Publisher(s)
1995	White Men Can't Jump	Atari Jaguar	Atari Corporation
	Ruiner Pinball	Atari Jaguar
	Star Trek: Starfleet Academy – Starship Bridge Simulator	Sega 32X	Interplay Entertainment
	Vid Grid	Atari Jaguar CD	Atari Corporation
1996	NHL Open Ice	Microsoft Windows	Midway Games
	NBA Jam: Tournament Edition	Atari Jaguar
	Fight For Life	Atari Jaguar	Atari Corporation
	NBA Hangtime	Microsoft Windows	Midway Games
	Tempest 2000	Classic Mac OS, Sega Saturn	Interplay Entertainment
	Tempest X3	PlayStation
1997	World League Basketball	Microsoft Windows, PlayStation	Mindscape
	NCAA Final Four '97	Microsoft Windows, PlayStation
1999	Paperboy	Nintendo 64	Midway Games
	Lego Racers	Microsoft Windows, Nintendo 64, PlayStation	Lego Media
	NBA Inside Drive 2000	Microsoft Windows	Microsoft
2000	Ground Control: Dark Conspiracy	Microsoft Windows	Sierra Studios
	All-Star Baseball 2001	Nintendo 64	Acclaim Entertainment
	NFL Quarterback Club 2001	Dreamcast, Nintendo 64
2002	Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance	GameCube	Interplay Entertainment
	Monster Jam: Maximum Destruction	Microsoft Windows	Ubi Soft
	NBA Inside Drive 2002	Xbox	Microsoft
	Disney's Stitch: Experiment 626	PlayStation 2	Disney Interactive
	NBA Inside Drive 2003	Xbox	Microsoft Game Studios
	Hunter: The Reckoning	GameCube, Xbox	Interplay Entertainment
2003	Hunter: The Reckoning – Wayward	PlayStation 2	Vivendi Universal Games
	Hunter: The Reckoning – Redeemer	Xbox
	NBA Inside Drive 2004	Xbox	Microsoft Game Studios
	Disney's The Haunted Mansion	GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox	TDK Mediactive
2004	Duel Masters	PlayStation 2	Atari
	Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude	Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox	Sierra Entertainment
2005	Zathura	PlayStation 2, Xbox	2K Games
	Charlie and the Chocolate Factory	GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox	Global Star Software
	50 Cent: Bulletproof G Unit Edition	PlayStation Portable	Vivendi Games
	Call of Duty 2: Big Red One	GameCube	Activision
	Codename: Kids Next Door – Operation: V.I.D.E.O.G.A.M.E.	GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox	Global Star Software
2006	The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy	PlayStation 2, Gamecube, Wii	Midway Games
	Blitz: Overtime	PlayStation Portable
	Family Guy Video Game!	PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Xbox	2K Games, Fox Interactive
2007	Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law	PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Wii	Capcom
	Ben 10: Protector of Earth	PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Wii	D3 Publisher
	Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2	PlayStation Portable	Ubisoft
	America's Army: True Soldiers	Xbox 360
2008	Go, Diego, Go!: Safari Rescue	PlayStation 2, Wii	2K Play
	V.I.P. Casino: Blackjack	Wii	High Voltage Software
	Gyrostarr	Wii
	Dora the Explorer: Dora Saves the Snow Princess	PlayStation 2, Wii	2K Play
	Go, Diego, Go!: Great Dinosaur Rescue	PlayStation 2, Wii
2009	The Secret Saturdays: Beasts of the 5th Sun	PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Wii	D3 Publisher
	High Voltage Hot Rod Show	Wii	High Voltage Software
	Astro Boy: The Video Game	PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Wii	D3 Publisher
	Ni Hao, Kai-Lan: Super Game Day	PlayStation 2, Wii	2K Play
	Dora the Explorer: Dora Saves the Crystal Kingdom	PlayStation 2, Wii
	Evasive Space	Wii	Akinai Games
	The Conduit	Wii	Sega
2010	Iron Man 2	Wii, PlayStation Portable
	Tournament of Legends	Wii
	Dora's Big Birthday Adventure	PlayStation 2, Wii	2K Play
	Pheasants Forever Wingshooter	Wii	GameMill Entertainment
	Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer	Wii, Nintendo DS	Red Wagon Games
2011	Conduit 2	Wii	Sega
	Captain America: Super Soldier	Wii, Nintendo 3DS
	Nicktoons MLB	Wii, Xbox 360	2K Play
	Nickelodeon Fit	Wii
	Nickelodeon Dance	Wii, Xbox 360
	Victorious: Time to Shine	Xbox 360	D3 Publisher
	Country Dance	Wii	GameMill Entertainment
	Country Dance 2	Wii
2012	Country Dance All-Stars	Xbox 360
	Kinect Star Wars	Xbox 360	LucasArts, Microsoft Studios
	Zone of the Enders HD Collection	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360	Konami
	Toy Story Mania!	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360	Disney Interactive Studios
	Nickelodeon Dance 2	Wii, Xbox 360	2K Play
	Avengers Initiative	Android, iOS	Disney Interactive
	Batman: Arkham City Lockdown	Android, iOS	Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
	Victorious: Taking the Lead	Wii	D3 Publisher
2013	Le Vamp	iOS	High Voltage Software
	Zoombies: Animales de la Muerte	iOS
	The Conduit HD	Android
	Mortal Kombat	Microsoft Windows	Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
	Enter the Dominatrix	PlayStation 4, Xbox One	Deep Silver
	Injustice: Gods Among Us	PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows	Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
	Ben 10: Omniverse 2	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, Wii U	D3 Publisher
2014	The Amazing Spider-Man 2	Nintendo 3DS	Activision
2015	Saints Row IV: Re-Elected	PlayStation 4, Xbox One	Deep Silver
	Saints Row: Gat out of Hell	PlayStation 4, Xbox One
	Mortal Kombat X	Microsoft Windows	Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
2016	Damaged Core	Microsoft Windows	Oculus Studios
	Dragon Front	Microsoft Windows
2017	They Live to Destroy	Microsoft Windows
2018	Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden	Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One	Funcom
	Fortnite: Save the World	Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One	Epic Games
2019	Zombieland: Double Tap – Road Trip	Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One	GameMill Entertainment, Maximum Games
	Ballista	Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift	Oculus Studios

Canceled

• Thea Realm Fighters (Jaguar)
• Kid Vid Grid (Jaguar)
• Country Vid Grid (Jaguar)
• The Grinder (Wii, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows)
• Paperboy (PlayStation)

References

1. Androvich, Mark (April 23, 2008). "High Voltage Software turns 15". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on August 13, 2018. Retrieved August 12, 2018.
2. Larino, Jennifer (December 18, 2014). "Illinois video game developer to open New Orleans studio, hailed as economic development win". NOLA.com. Archived from the original on December 15, 2020. Retrieved December 15, 2020.
3. Van Zelfden, N. Evan (June 16, 2006). "Tour of Chicago – Pt. 1: High Voltage Software". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on August 13, 2018. Retrieved December 15, 2020.
4. Casamassina, Matt (April 18, 2008). "Exclusive First Look: The Conduit". IGN. Archived from the original on October 20, 2020. Retrieved December 15, 2020.
5. "Q&A: Eric Nofsinger channels The Conduit". GameSpot. July 7, 2008. Archived from the original on December 15, 2019. Retrieved August 12, 2018.
6. Weber, Rachel (December 18, 2014). "High Voltage to open New Orleans studio". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on August 13, 2018. Retrieved August 12, 2018.
7. Wawro, Alex (December 19, 2014). "Chicago's High Voltage plans New Orleans expansion". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on August 13, 2018. Retrieved August 12, 2018.
8. Dealessandri, Marie (December 15, 2020). "Keywords acquires High Voltage Software for $50m". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on December 15, 2020. Retrieved December 15, 2020.
9. Reseigh-Lincoln, Dom (April 16, 2018). "Video: Here's What Happened To The Grinder, A Wii Horror Shooter Lost To Development Hell". Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on February 23, 2021. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
10. "The Grinder no longer Wii-exclusive, new trailer, due out Halloween 2011, HVS talks The Conduit sales, Go Nintendo". Archived from the original on February 7, 2010.
11. Michele (February 15, 2010). "Screenshot of HD version of The Grinder". Gamesblog.it. Archived from the original on February 18, 2013. Retrieved February 15, 2010.
12. Bargas, G. (April 10, 2013). "Interview: High Voltage Software Says 'The Grinder' Still Possible". GamingTruth. Archived from the original on January 27, 2021. Retrieved May 22, 2018.

External links

• Official website