Key Notes
- Hidden Horses is an employee-owned studio of around 20 developers formed by id Software veterans.
- Its FAQ says developers hold equal shares and make major decisions through democratic mechanisms.
- The team plans Kickstarter funding for Danger Pay, a single-player arena shooter inspired by Smash TV and The Running Man.
Veterans of id Software have formed Hidden Horses, a new studio of around 20 developers where the people making the games also own the business. The team’s first project is Danger Pay, a single-player arena shooter set inside a deadly television game show.
The launch follows the summer layoffs at the Doom developer. Hidden Horses is trying to preserve a team that already knows how to work together, while giving its members direct control over the company’s direction.
Equal Shares and Democratic Decisions
The studio’s FAQ spells out what employee ownership means: the developers hold equal shares, and the business operates as a cooperative. Democratic mechanisms determine project direction, leadership and other major decisions.
That puts ownership and decision-making into the same hands. The arrangement goes beyond offering employees a financial stake while leaving control entirely with outside owners.
Executive producer and co-founder Andrew Willis links that structure to the team’s commitment. “I think that when people have a stake in something’s success, they are more committed to it,” he said in launch comments reported by PC Gamer.
On its business approach page, Hidden Horses says it wants to prioritize the studio’s long-term health and creative work, drawing on the team’s experience to make major decisions. Its argument is that sharing control will produce a better company as well as a fairer one.
Keeping an Experienced Team Together
Hidden Horses’ team page lists more than 250 years of combined industry experience. The roster includes former id principal engine programmer Dustin Land, former lead VFX artist Todd Boyce, technical designer Tim Locke and producer Andrew Willis.
Those backgrounds cover the engine technology, visual effects, design and production work needed to build a shooter. The founders are starting a new business, but many of the working relationships were established across years of shipping games together.
PC Gamer reports that Microsoft cut 136 id Software developers during July’s Xbox layoffs. Hidden Horses gives a group of those developers a way to continue working together after losing their roles.
Studio ownership is becoming a live question elsewhere, too. We recently reported on Black Forest Games leaving THQ Nordic and Embracer through a management buyout. Hidden Horses is building its employee-owned company from the outset.
Danger Pay Turns Combat Into a Game Show
The studio’s project page describes Danger Pay as a fast single-player first-person shooter influenced by Smash TV and the 1987 film The Running Man. Players enter a lethal game show overseen by a sinister but charming AI host.
The pitch emphasizes traditional shooter combat, distinctive weapons and enemies, and careful optimization. These are the team’s development goals; the studio has not yet supplied a full gameplay breakdown or performance specifications.
Hidden Horses plans to use Kickstarter to fund the project. Its founding documentary introduces the developers and the circumstances behind the new studio.
Danger Pay’s official project page does not yet list a release date or supported platforms.
