This articleneeds additional citations forverification.(May 2010) |
RedOctane, Inc.was an American electronic entertainment company best known for producing theGuitar Heroseries,beginning in November 2005. RedOctane became a wholly owned subsidiary ofActivisionin 2006. In February 2010, Activision closed the RedOctane division.
 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 1999 |
| Founders | Kai Huang Charles Huang |
| Defunct | February 11, 2010 |
| Fate | Closed |
| Headquarters | , US |
Key people | Kai Huang (CEO and Co-Founder), Charles Huang (COO and Co-Founder) Kelly Sumner(Chief Executive Officer) |
| Parent | Activision(2006–2010) |
History
editRedOctane was founded in 1999 by the brothers Kai Huang and Charles Huang. They got their beginnings operating the world's first online video game rental service, called WebGameZone. They soon began to create game accessories such as the Red Octane Ignitiondance mat,joysticks,and other accessories to build upon already-existing musical games. After soon realizing that their game accessories were tied to the launch dates of the games they were producing for, Red Octane began producing games. Their first original game was aPlayStation 2port ofRoxor Games' arcade rhythm gameIn the Groove.[1]
RedOctane teamed with developerHarmonix Music Systemsto releaseGuitar Heroin November 2005 for the PlayStation 2. The game was successful, and RedOctane released a sequel in 2006 for the PlayStation 2 andXbox 360.[2][3]
In May 2006, video game publisherActivisionannounced plans to acquire RedOctane, completing the deal on June 6, 2006.[4]Activision reportedly paid RedOctane$99.9 million in cash and common stock in the acquisition.[5][6]
After the Activision buy-out and a split from Harmonix, who went on to develop competing gameRock Band,RedOctane utilized Activision ownedNeversoft,the team responsible for theTony Hawkskateboarding video game franchise, to take the helm onGuitar Hero III: Legends of Rock,[7]which became available in November 2007.
Gaming news site Kotaku calledGuitar Heroan "instant cult classic". In its 26 first months after release,Guitar Herogenerated over $1B in sales.[8]
RedOctane releasedGuitar Hero World Tourin October 2008.
On February 11, 2010, Activision announced the closure of their RedOctane division.[9]
References
edit- ^"RedOctane, Inc. (Company) - Giant Bomb".www.giantbomb.com.Retrieved2016-04-27.
- ^Stevens, Jim (2008-10-16)."More guitar hero world tour tidbits".Mercury News.Retrieved2010-09-22.
- ^Petersen, Brittany (2009-01-28)."The History Leading Up to Guitar Hero".PC Magazine.Retrieved2010-09-24.
- ^"Activision Paid $100 mln for RedOctane".Next Generation. Archived fromthe originalon 2012-09-05.
- ^Miller, Ross."Activision paid nearly $100 million for Red Octane".Joystiq.Retrieved2007-04-18.
- ^"Activision Buys RedOctane for $99.9M".Kotaku.Archived fromthe originalon 2007-09-14.Retrieved2007-04-18.
- ^Ostroff, Joshua (2007)."Battle of the Virtual Bands".Exclaim! Magazine.Archived fromthe originalon 2007-11-09.Retrieved2007-10-31.
- ^"Guitar HeroGoes $1 Billion ".Kotaku.
- ^Chris Pereira."Original Guitar Hero Publisher RedOctane Shut Down".Archived fromthe originalon 2013-01-01.