Please support Game Informer. Print magazine subscriptions are less than $2 per issue
RedOctane Founders Will Keep Rocking At Activision
Times are tough in the Activision Blizzard empire, as evidenced by some of the massive layoffs seen throughout the company. Downsizing hit the studios at Neversoft and Prototype developer Radical Entertainment, while Activision subsidiaries Luxoflux and Underground Development were shut down completely.
Red Octane, which birthed the entire music genre craze of the past decade with its Guitar Hero franchise, was also effectively shuttered, as Activision management made the decision to lay off a majority of Red Octane’s internal development staff, retaining only those staffers involved with hardware and peripheral design and production. The hardware and peripheral personnel will now be rolled into Activision itself.
Though the Guitar Hero group CEO Dan Rosenweig recently departed Activision, online site Develop reports that Red Octane founders Kai and Charles Huang will stay on at Activision. At the moment, their role in the company following the closing of Red Octane is unknown, but in an interview last November, Kai Huang seemed to have some ideas about the future of the music genre, including possible applications for Microsoft’s Project Natal.
Via Develop
I’d like to ask you to support Game Informer’s continued coverage of games with a subscription. For less than two dollars per issue, we mail you a full year of 10 print magazines, each with cover stories and preview features filled with exclusive details about the most exciting upcoming games. We profile and interview game creators. We look back on the rich history of gaming, and we celebrate what’s next.
Here on the website, we offer much of our content for free, including game reviews, daily news, videos, event coverage, and more – all with minimal ads.
We do so with a small editorial team, alongside contributing paid writers from around the world – over 65 individuals from 9 countries around the world, just in the last couple of years.
It’s not possible without support.
In a time when game makers and games coverage have faced hard struggles and layoffs, the future of this 30+ year magazine and community is at risk. Our new standalone magazine subscription is the number one way you can keep us alive – and we believe you’ll get a pretty fantastic gaming magazine in your mailbox every few weeks for your trouble.
Thank you.
