High Voltage lays off 25

Conduit developer High Voltage Software is streamlining its operations, laying off dozens of employees a little less than a month after shipping its latest games, the Wii-exclusive fighter Tournament of Legends.

The layoffs were first reported by Joystiq and confirmed for GameSpot by the studio's vice president, Eric Nofsinger. Nofsinger put the number at 25 product development positions and specified that "no other reductions are expected."

While the Chicago-area developer has spent much of the last 17 years working on licensed projects, it might be best known among gamers for its recent Sega-published original intellectual properties on the Wii. In addition to Tournament of Legends, High Voltage developed the first-person shooter The Conduit and is currently at work on the sequel. It is also working on The Grinder, a violent shooter originally intended to be a Wii exclusive but later switched to a multiplatform game. Asked how the layoffs would impact those titles, Nofsinger said they "will not affect our projects."