Hi-Rez Announces Rebranding, Restructuring, Game Responsibility Shifts, And Related Layoffs

Today is a day of big change at Hi-Rez. Stewart Chisam announced today via LinkedIn that the company has rebranded and is now Hi-Rez Ventures, but this isn’t just a matter of changing the company’s name.

In addition to rebranding, the company is also restructuring. According to the post, Hi-Rez will no longer be serving as a publisher. That duty will now fall to Titan Forge or Evil Mojo – the companies under the Hi-Rez umbrella that have been responsible for Smite and Paladins, respectively.

In addition, First Watch Games and RedBeard games – the developers of Realm Royale and Rogue Company and Divine Knockout, respectively – are being consolidated into Titan Forge and Evil Mojo. Titan Forge will oversee all projects under the Smite IP, including Divine Knockout and an unnamed Smite game. Evil Mojo will take on Realm Royale and Rogue Company.

It should be noted that the language used in the post regarding DKO, Realm Royale, and Rogue Company states that they will “continue to operate” with their respective companies “responsible for the maintenance”. This could be read as each of these games entering maintenance mode, but hasn't been explicitly stated.

These changes now leave Hi-Rez Ventures with “three distinct business units”, Titan Forge Games, Evil Mojo Games, and RallyHere which provides “software-as-a-service solutions for game developers building cross-platform live-service games”.

Unsurprisingly, these changes mean a shuffling of staff – from top to bottom. On the top end, Erez Goren is now CEO of Hi-Rez Ventures, while former Hi-Rez Studios CEO Stewart Chisam takes on the role of RallyHere Interactive’s CEO and President of Hi-Rez Ventures.

As for the rest of the company – well, consolidations do mean layoffs. The post doesn’t state how many employees have been affected by this. It does state that the company is “doing all [they] can to smooth the transition for those employees and their families”, and that they are working help them find new positions at other companies.

Some updates on Hi-Rez. This is a tough day because we are doing some reorganization and job eliminations as part of this. But I'm excited about moving to this structure. It's something we've been planning a long time and I know that Tony, Alex and Travis will do amazing with…

— Stewart Chisam (@schisam) June 26, 2023