RedOctane
 |
|
| Subsidiary of Activision | |
| Industry | Interactive entertainment |
| Fate | Closed |
| Founded | 1999 |
| Defunct | February 11, 2010 |
| Headquarters | Mountain View, California, United States |
|
Key people
|
Kai Huang (CEO and Co-Founder), |
| Owner | Activision |
| Website | www |
Kai Huang (CEO and Co-Founder),
Charles Huang (COO and Co-Founder)
Kelly Sumner (Chief Executive Officer)
RedOctane was an American electronic entertainment company best known for producing the Guitar Hero series beginning in November 2005. RedOctane became a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision in 2006. In February 2010, Activision closed the RedOctane division.
RedOctane 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 Ignition dance mat, joysticks, and other accessories to build upon already existent 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 In The Groove developed by Roxor Games for the Play Station 2 and Arcade platforms.
RedOctane is known for its Guitar Hero games, Ignition dance pads, and other video game accessories, including arcade joysticks, drums, and guitars for existing music games. RedOctane teamed with developer Harmonix Music Systems to release Guitar Hero in November 2005 for the PlayStation 2. The game was successful and RedOctane had Jack McCauley design more sophisticated hardware for a sequel, which they released in 2006 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360.
In May 2006, video game publisher Activision announced plans to acquire RedOctane, completing the deal on June 6, 2006. Activision reportedly paid RedOctane $99.9 million in cash and common stock in the acquisition. Activision acquired McCauleys's consulting company, R0R3 Devices, at the same time.
...
Wikipedia