High Voltage lays off staff

By Oli Welsh Published 5 August, 2010

Conduit developer scales back.

High Voltage Software, developer of Wii shooter The Conduit, has let 25 staff go, IGN reports.

"I can confirm that High Voltage Software has reduced some of our staffing based on our current production requirements and predictions of what is needed for the remainder of 2010," a spokesperson said.

High Voltage is currently working on The Conduit 2 for Wii as well as co-op monster mash The Grinder, which has been shown as a first-person shooter on Wii and a third-person action game on PS3 and Xbox 360.

It released the deeply unimpressive fighting game Tournament of Legends on Wii last month. Much-hyped for its graphics technology, The Conduit wasn't all that much better, to be honest.

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About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (11) Latest comment 2 years ago

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  • NOSAVIOUR #1 2 years ago

    But they make crap games...

  • FreakyZoid #2 2 years ago

    What an odd comment.

    I'd trust a team that is already experienced at making good FPS games to be able to successfully integrate Move controls.

    I wouldn't trust a team who makes deeply average motion control games to be able to suddenly become better at every other element of art & game design just because of new hardware.

  • speedjack #3 2 years ago

    A great engine does not a great game make.

  • Pikkewyn #4 2 years ago

    I simply adore how shit these guys are as developers. Once regarded by Wii dorks as a AAA prospect for Wii development with generic tat like The Conduit, all their games have bombed wonderfully both critically and financially.

  • ColdShoulder #5 2 years ago

    Yes. Disappointed when I played it but in hindsight, I think it was the hype that did more damage. It's no worse an fps on wii than any of the Cods or Mohs. I've been thinking about playing it through again lately.

  • FogHeart #6 2 years ago

    It was very enjoyable to play using the Wii FPS controls on a game with really decent graphic effects, so blasting away at the aliens made you smile, but when you stopped for a moment to think about everything else in the game - plot, dialogue, scenery design - and realising it was really old and cliched, more suited to last century - the smile faded.

    High Voltage programmers have very strong kung fu, an amazing job creating that engine on the Wii - but the designers, the script writers etc let them down. Shame.
    Edited by 1 at 05/08/10 @ 10:53

  • CallousB #7 2 years ago

    Animales de la Muerte was about the only game of their's I was interested in..and that seemed to be the one they decided to can.

    God knows why they are bothering with The Conduit 2....I would have concentrated on finishing The Grinder on the Wii as that looked fairly decent (unlike the awful 3rd person version of the Grinder on 360/PS3).

  • Jim_Lahey #8 2 years ago

    The controls were indeed excellent on The Conduit, shame the repetitive gameplay, super brown graphics and boring level design made it a bit of a stinker.

  • SClaw #9 2 years ago

    No Electric Six based joke? Or is that a bit 00s?

  • Mr_Bogus #10 2 years ago

    Just shows that even the companies that seem fun and passionate, are still just corporate assclowns sucking on the big golden cock of the throat slitting games industry.

    A shame really, i enjoyed C1 and have been following HV's news & really looking forward to C2, but now it has a bitter twist that's turning me off wanting to preorder it.

  • KDR_11k #11 2 years ago

    I suppose that's the team that made Tournament of Legends.