October 2001
I-Street
By Jeff Meredith
Chicago hopes to recapture a position at the forefront of another multi-billion dollar industry: video games. Although the release of Microsoft's next-generation video game console, Xbox, has been delayed until Nov. 15, local firms are gearing up with new creative titles. High Voltage Software, a game developer set in Hoffman Estates, will help unlock Xbox's potential when it releases a new action-adventure game in March: "Hunter: The Reckoning."
Based upon a popular White Wolf role playing game, the Xbox title has been a work in progress since January, said executive producer Kevin Sheller.
Close to 30 employees - artists, designers, programmers, producers - have been plugging away, creating 25 different monsters and roughly the same number of game levels. If your'e ready to battle a big piece of meat, possessed by a spirit, or a monster made out of machine parts, this is the game for you. High Voltage has even managed the sounds of 'Hunter' in house - as you enter a moment of tension, speed metal will play in the background. The company brought in outside talent for this niche role, but it also has four audio employees who both produce original music and record field sounds. From the rattle of a metal gate to the sounds of a shooting range, everything's becoming more real in the world of gaming.
High Voltage is not the only Chicago-area developer gearing up for the launch of Xbox. Midway Games, known for such titles as "Spyhunter" and the notoriously bloody "Mortal Kombat," is also preparing for a blitz that will involve three key players. Sony's Playstation II, a current kingpin launched in the US last fall, will be joined by Xbox and Nintendo's GameCube, set for a Nov. 18 release date. Midway corporate spokesman Patrick Fitzgerald feels that three competing systems will provide a life for an already lucrative industry - computer and video games generated just over $6 billion in sales during 2000.
"The demographic trends are very positive for the video game industry right now, (there's an) increasing teenage population that's just kind of ramping up," said Fitzgerald. "Three major players competing for the consumer's attention will likely lead to increases in marketing and promotion of the consoles, which is an overall positive for the industry."
Microsoft has already indicated that it will put $500 million toward advertising and marketing in the 18 months following launch, and total ad spending for the three systems could approach $1.25 billion this fall. The stakes are incredibly high but where does Chicago fit in this picture?
Some have written off the Windy City as a relic. Chicago was the epicenter of a pinball craze that swept the world during the 1950s and 60s and the game industry naturally expanded its reach. But a host of companies closed (Viacom New Media, 1997) or relocated during the last decade, raising eyebrows and hinting at the words of Horace Greeley: "Go West, young man, go West."
In June 2000, Microsoft purchased Chicago's Bungie Software Products and moved the company to Redmond. A year earlier, Microsoft did the same with Chicago-based FASA Interactive Technologies, Inc., maker of MechWarrior. Zehnerbrainer.com, a website that focuses on game developers, perhaps captures it best with its Illinois list split between "Still Going" and "Ex-Illinois Developers." That list includes Konami of America, Inc., which has relocated to San Francisco, as well as Kinesoft Development and Blue Byte software, both now based in Austin, Texas.
"Originally, Chicago mostly seemed to be an arcade and pinball area and since that's really dropped, we've lost a lot of companies," said High Voltage's Sheller. "But even some of the companies that worked on other games - not arcade games, home games - still went out of business and it may be a lack of talent in the area because most of the talent for games is on the West Coast."
Midway Games has experienced the changing market forces firsthand. In 1998 it spun off from its parent, pinball giant WMS Industries. WMS shut down its pinball operation in 1999 after losing close to $18 million during a three year period -- the company now keys on slot machines and other gambling equipment. But that wasn't the end of the transition for Midway. This past June, the company announced its departure from the arcade business, focusing its efforts solely on the home market.
"The arcade business has been declining for some time now. We hung around and hoped it would improve," said Fitzgerald. "It just didn't make sense to participate in the declining arcade business anymore at the expense of our home business."
Midway's business is now keying on Xbox, GameCube and Playstation II. A hockey game called NHL Hitz will be released at the launch of GameCube, with a football title, NFL Blitz, likely following in January. Those titles will also appear on Xbox, and will be joined by a snowmobile racing game called Arctic Thunder, due out in late November. Midway has a baseball title, MLB Slugfest, and a soccer game, Red Car Soccer, in development for all three systems. And yes, Mortal Kombat is on the way next year.
"There's really no reason that a video game company would not be able to be successful in Chicago," said Fitzgerald. "We find that there's a lot of programming talent and a lot of art talent that we can draw on."
High Voltage may be an example of survival of the fittest and it has no shortage of talent -- the company received quite a number of resumes recently by virtue of a competitor's folding, said software development manager Jesse Helton. But its blueprint for success also lies in an institutional philosophy, reveals Sheller.
"For a game company, we're very business-like in that we don't have a lot of crazy people running around the halls throwing stuff and shooting each other with Nerf guns," said Sheller. "We conduct ourselves in a professional manner and that isn't so common across the game industry. We've had a lot of comments from publishers who come in and say, 'Wow, this feels like a business. You guys are organized and have the end result in mind.'"
Sheller says it's "very rare that our very best have left," although the West Coast bug has bitten in a few cases. But the company usually heads off that problem by rigorously screening applicants -- there's greater comfort with residents of the Midwest and the chief requirement is what one would expect, a devotion to the craft.
"We can take people without a lot of experience but you've got to have some strength to back up that lack of experience. An intense passion," says Helton. "If someone comes to me and says 'I am going to make games, am I going to make them for you or someone else?' they're on the right track."
High Voltage, it seems, has been on the right track too. Since being founded in 1993 with a staff of perhaps a half dozen, it has grown to 90 employees. President John Kopecky said he lost track of who was who when the company's personnel attended a Cubs game. But the nature of the games, and sheer size of the development teams, is also driving the growth. Including 'Hunter,' High Voltage is currently working on three projects, one being a Playstation II title accompanying an upcoming Disney movie. All are for different publishers, limiting the company's risk and allowing for greater autonomy. And the staff? They seem to be enjoying themselves.
"The fact that any of us are paid to do this is ridiculous," said Eric Nofsinger, High Voltage's vice president of creative content.
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