Hi-Rez Studios is an American video game company. 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, the hero shooter Paladins, and the third-person shooter Rogue Company. 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 on October 30, 2015. History 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 450 people at its development facility in the northern Atlanta suburb of Alpharetta, Seattle, and Brighton in the UK. In August 2018, the company split into four separate studios: Titan Forge (responsible for SMITE development), Evil Mojo (responsible for Paladins development), Heroic Leap (responsible for Realm Royale development. This studio later merged with Evil Mojo), and Alacrity Arthouse (responsible for Centralized Art Services). In 2019, Hi-Rez Studios announced the creation of a new studio, Red Beard Games, based in the Brighton office. The team is currently working on Divine Knockout. Games developed Global Agenda 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. Tribes Universe Tribes Universe was a multiplayer arena shooter developed by Hi-Rez Studios based on the Tribes series. The game, along with Hi-Rez Studios' Tribes intellectual property acquisition from InstantAction, was first announced on October 23, 2010. While alpha testing was said to begin at the start of 2011, development on Tribes Universe was canceled when Hi-Rez Studios decided to start working on Tribes: Ascend. Tribes: Ascend Tribes: Ascend is a free-to-play multiplayer-only first-person shooter and part of the Tribes franchise. It was announced by Hi-Rez Studios on March 11, 2011, at the PAX East, and released on April 12, 2012. Tribes: Ascend earned a metascore of 86, and PC Gamer ranked it at #8 in an article on the