Hi-Rez acquires Tribes franchise

Gerogia-based studio Hi-Rez has acquired the rights to the long running Tribes series, with the intention of creating Tribes Universe, an MMO for the franchise.

The purchase sees Hi-Rez join a substantial list of studios who have created Tribes titles in the past, including the now defunct Dynamix and Inevitable Entertainment and BioShock studio Irrational Games.

Having assumed the franchise rights from former publisher Sierra Games, also now defunct, Hi-Rez has already revealed some tentative details of the game-to-be, including "a significant rewrite to the Unreal Engine servers to allow for 100+ players to be fighting in the same map."

Alpha testing will be held in early 2011, and priority in both Alpha and Beta testing will go to players of Hi-Rez’ current title Global Agenda.