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Hidden Path Entertainment

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hidden Path Entertainment, Inc.
Company typePrivate
IndustryVideo games
FoundedBellevue, Washington, U.S. (2006)
FounderMichael Austin
Jim Garbarini
Dave McCoy
Jeff Pobst
Mark Terrano
Headquarters
Bellevue, Washington
,
U.S.
Area served
Worldwide
ProductsDefense Grid: The Awakening
Counter-Strike: Source
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Age of Empires II HD
Number of employees
40
Websitewww.hiddenpath.com

Hidden Path Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game development company based in Bellevue, Washington, United States.

History

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Hidden Path was founded in 2006 by Michael Austin, Jim Garbarini, Dave McCoy, Jeff Pobst, and Mark Terrano. In 2008, Hidden Path released its first original title, Defense Grid: The Awakening for Windows and in 2009 for Xbox. A downloadable title, Defense Grid garnered high acclaim with its twist on tower defense and has sold over half a million units since its release. In 2009, Hidden Path began working with Valve to update and maintain Counter-Strike: Source, first released in 2004.

Hidden Path worked with Valve developing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. CS:GO debuted at PAX Prime 2011 and released on August 21, 2012. CS:GO is available for Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 3 (PlayStation Network), and Xbox 360 (Xbox Live Arcade).[1]

Continuing the company's trend of revisiting older series, Hidden Path released Age of Empires II: HD Edition on Valve's Steam platform in 2013, which serves as an updated version of Age of Empires II, released in 1999 by Ensemble Studios and Microsoft. In addition to updating the graphics and multiplayer capabilities of the base game and its original expansion, Hidden Path paved the way for a new expansion after 14 years called The Forgotten.

According to Valve, the reason they are often collaborating with Hidden Path Entertainment is that they have known them for a while and their offices are "right around the corner". Hidden Path has also contributed model work on Left 4 Dead 2.[2] They also collaborated with Valve on the You Monster! expansion pack for Defense Grid which features the character GLaDOS from the Portal video game series.

In March 2021, it was announced that Hidden Path was developing "a AAA, third-person, open-world" Dungeons & Dragons game with Whitney "Strix" Beltrán as the narrative director.[3][4][5] Jason Schreier, Bloomberg News, commented that the cancellation of multiple unnamed video game projects by Wizards of the Coast in January 2023 led to a small layoff at the company and that "the reorganization will land hard for several independent studios such as Boston-based OtherSide Entertainment and Bellevue, Washington-based Hidden Path Entertainment, both of which were working on games for Wizards of the Coast".[6][7] However, Polygon reported that "Beltrán confirmed in a tweet that the studio's D&D game is still in development, and that it is actively hiring for the project".[8]

On February 7, 2024, CEO Jeff Pobst announced on LinkedIn that the company would be laying off 44 employees after it was unable to secure funding for an unannounced RPG project.[9]

List of video games

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Year Title Platform(s)
LIN MAC WIN PS3 PS4 X360 XONE Switch Android
2008 Defense Grid: The Awakening No Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No No
2012 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No
2013 Age of Empires II: HD Edition No No Yes No No No No No No
Cancelled[10] Windborne No No Yes No No No No No No
2014 Defense Grid 2 Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes Yes No
Cancelled Chroma[11] Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No
2016 Defense Grid 2: Enhanced VR Edition[12] No No Yes No No No No No No
2017 Witchblood[13] No No Yes No No No No No No
Defense Grid 2: Android VR Edition[14] No No No No No No No No Yes
2018 Brass Tactics: Arena[15] No No Yes No No No No No No
Brass Tactics[16] No No Yes No No No No No No
2019 Raccoon Lagoon[17] No No Yes No No No No No No

References

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  1. ^ Makuch, Eddie (12 August 2011). "Counter-Strike: Global Offensive firing up early 2012". GameSpot. CBS Interactive Inc. Archived from the original on 22 October 2011. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
  2. ^ "Counter-Strike: Global Offensive – Interview with Chet Faliszek".
  3. ^ Marshall, Cass (2021-03-03). "An ambitious open-world D&D adventure game is in the works". Polygon. Retrieved 2023-01-04.
  4. ^ Chowdhury, Mahirul Alam (March 4, 2021). "New D&D open-world game in development". GameRiv. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  5. ^ Adams, Robert N. (March 3, 2021). "'Defense Grid' Developers Working on New D&D Game". TechRaptor. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  6. ^ Schreier, Jason (2023-01-03). "Hasbro's Wizards of the Coast Cancels Video Game Projects". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2023-01-04.
  7. ^ Schreier, Jason (January 3, 2023). "Hasbro's Wizards of the Coast Cancels Video Game Projects". BNN Bloomberg. Archived from the original on January 3, 2023. Retrieved January 4, 2023.
  8. ^ Welsh, Oli (2023-01-04). "Wizards of the Coast reportedly cancels at least 5 video games". Polygon. Retrieved 2023-01-04.
  9. ^ Shepard, Kenneth (2024-01-10). "59 Days Into 2024 And 8,100+ Video Game Layoffs Have Been Announced". Kotaku. Retrieved 2024-03-05.
  10. ^ "Windborne Cancellation". Retrieved 4 October 2016.
  11. ^ "Chroma Announce Trailer". YouTube. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
  12. ^ "Defense Grid 2: Enhanced VR Edition". oculus.com. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  13. ^ "Witchblood". oculus.com. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  14. ^ "Defense Grid 2: Android VR Edition". oculus.com. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  15. ^ "Brass Tactics: Arena". oculus.com.
  16. ^ "Brass Tactics". oculus.com.
  17. ^ "Raccoon Lagoon". oculus.com.
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