Hi-Rez Studios

Hi-Rez Studios

Type	Privately held
Industry	Video game industry
Founded	2005
Headquarters	Alpharetta, Georgia, United States
Key people	Erez Goren Todd Harris Stew Chisam Mike Dudgeon
Products	Global Agenda Tribes: Ascend Smite Paladins: Champions of the Realm
Number of employees	350+
Website	hirezstudios.com

Hi-Rez Studios is an independent, privately held video game developer based in Alpharetta, Georgia, United States. The company was established in 2005 by Erez Goren and Todd Harris. Hi-Rez Studios' games include the squad-based shooter Global Agenda, the critically acclaimed Tribes: Ascend, the third-person MOBA Smite and the Hero shooter Paladins: Champions of the Realm. In 2012, Hi-Rez Studios was recognized as a Top 30 Video-Game Developer by Game Developer Magazine and Gamasutra. Hi-Rez are the current owners of the Metaltech license, including Battledrome, Earthsiege, Starsiege, the CyberStorm series, and the Tribes series. With the exception of Battledrome, and Cyberstorm, the games were released as freeware by Hi-Rez.

Erez Goren founded Hi-Rez Studios with Todd Harris in 2005. They hired experienced game developers from other successful titles, including City of Heroes, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and Call of Duty. Hi-Rez Studios employs more than 200 people at its development facility in the northern Atlanta suburb of Alpharetta.

Global Agenda is an online team-based game. The game went live on February 1, 2010. In April 2011, Global Agenda became the first free-to-play game released on the Steam platform, introducing Elite and Free Agents and an in-game cash shop featuring Agenda Points.