Eye on Chicago Gaming

By: Andrew Hayward

Sunday July 16, 2006

We take a look at the publishers and developers that are at the core of the burgeoning Chicago video game industry.
The west coast is overpopulated - not just with people, but with game developers and publishers. Stick a pin on a map somewhere between California and Washington, and you are more than likely to have found the location of a gaming company. Still, it would be brash to assume that each and every such company prefers the left side of our nation. In fact, there are many developers based in and around the Chicago area, the place that Static Multimedia calls home. I thought I'd take this opportunity to highlight a few of them, in an effort to recognize the companies that populate our great city and suburbs. Though it seems unlikely that the near future will reveal Chicago to be the next epicenter of gaming, we can only hope that the continued success of these companies will draw more attention to the area.

Developer NuFX had been based in the Chicago area for years, mainly working on titles for gaming giant Electronic Arts. Two years ago, the studio was acquired and welcomed into the EA fold, becoming EA Chicago. Originally located in Hoffman Estates, EA Chicago recently opened their second location downtown in River North. To date, EA Chicago has put out Fight Night Round 2, along with this year's superb Fight Night Round 3. Now with two distinct teams, the company is said to be working on unannounced original product, as opposed to the sports games they have released to date. Though the content of these titles is not yet known, I can only hope they are as innovative and staggeringly amusing as Fight Night Round 3 for the Xbox 360.

Though Electronic Arts may be the number one third-party publisher on the planet, another company is more well-known for their Chicago roots. Midway Games has long been based out of Chicago, though they now have several other studios across the United States and overseas. Midway is perhaps best known for their arcade games released in the early-to-mid 1990's, along with their subsequent home console versions. The Mortal Kombat, NFL Blitz, and NBA Jam franchises are all Midway originals. However, the death of the arcade gaming industry in America signaled hard times for the company, who shut down their arcade division in 2001 and saw losses of nearly $100 million during the year of 2003.

Still, there was clearly light at the end of the tunnel. The 2002 release of Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance for console and handheld systems signaled a rebirth for their major franchise, and it was followed by Mortal Kombat: Deception in 2004. Several big releases are anticipated in the near future from Midway, including John Woo's Stranglehold. Developed by Midway Studios right here in Chicago, Stranglehold is an all-new shooter based in the universe of Woo's 1992 film classic, Hard-Boiled. Midway also intends to release both Mortal Kombat: Armageddon and Unreal Tournament 2007 during the 2006 calendar year, both of which are eagerly anticipated.

A handful of smaller studios also make their home in and around Chicago. High Voltage Software makes their home in Hoffman Estates, and have developed several original titles, as well as ports, for current console systems. Their GameCube port of Call of Duty 2: Big Red One was released just last year, while Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude was an adult hit back in 2004. Currently, they are working on the game adaptation of popular television show Family Guy, which should hit stores in October for PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube. With over thirty games under their belt and a team of over 100 dedicated employees, High Voltage looks to continue their reign as one of the top independent game developers in the area.

Day 1 Studios, located in Chicago, may not have a lot of titles to their name - but they're both great. The studio has previously worked on MechAssault and MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf for the Xbox, both of which were well-received and were top sellers for the platform. Currently, they are working on the Xbox 360 port of F.E.A.R.: First Encounter Assault Recon, one of the best PC games in recent memory. Wideload Games has worked on even fewer games - just one, actually: last year's Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse. Wideload features several developers who defected from Bungie Software after finishing Halo, only one of the biggest games of the generation (Stubbs runs on a modified version of the Halo engine). Stubbs was a very promising start for the company, so we expect even greater experiences in the near future.

Two big-time publishers and three independent studios; this is just a start - both to the burgeoning Chicago gaming industry and to our coverage of it. In the coming months, we plan to increase our coverage of these and other local companies, perhaps in the form of interviews or studio visits. Maybe we'll drop by an IGDA Chicago event and geek out with the local game designers. Either way, look forward to much more on Chicago game design and its impact on the industry as a whole.