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Red Beard Games

Games & Interactive
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Founded
2019
Employees
N/A
Offices
1

About Red Beard Games

Red Beard Games was a British video game development studio formed in July 2019 within Hi-Rez Studios. Based in Brighton, it marked the publisher’s first development presence in the United Kingdom. Its work focused on competitive multiplayer games for PC and consoles, combining original game development with the publishing resources of the wider Hi-Rez organization.

The studio developed Divine Knockout (DKO), a third-person 3D platform fighter built with Unreal Engine. Its stylized mythological combatants drew inspiration from the SMITE universe, with multiplayer arena battles incorporating environmental hazards. Released on December 6, 2022, the game reached PC through Steam and the Epic Games Store, alongside PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. Its launch included a PlayStation Plus promotion.

The team’s capabilities covered game design, character modeling, animation, visual effects, multiplayer gameplay and network engineering. Its production work combined cross-platform development with ongoing support for a live-service game. Divine Knockout was the studio’s documented commercial release before its integration into another Hi-Rez development team.

In June 2023, Hi-Rez reorganized its development businesses and folded Red Beard Games into Titan Forge Games, the studio responsible for SMITE. Red Beard Games consequently ceased operating as an independent development division. Hi-Rez announced the sunsetting of Divine Knockout in October 2024, and its servers shut down on February 17, 2025. The British corporate vehicle that administered the studio’s UK operations was subsequently dissolved in September 2025.

More about Red Beard Games

Founding team and operating model

  • The founding roster included developers with experience at Sony, Microsoft, Ninja Theory, Jagex, Ubisoft and Codemasters.
  • At launch, the studio was conceived to combine independent creative flexibility with access to Hi-Rez’s technology stack and publishing support.

Development collaboration

Pingle Studio co-developed Divine Knockout alongside Red Beard Games.

Notable credits

1 credit
  • Divine Knockout (DKO)

Offices

Current and former locations of Red Beard Games

2 locations

  • Brighton and Hove office

    Brighton and Hove, England, United Kingdom

  • Brighton office

    Former headquarters
    Lees House, 21-33 Dyke Road, Brighton, BN1 3FE, United KingdomBrighton, England, United Kingdom
    About this office

    Former studio headquarters within Hi-Rez's Brighton premises. The report confirms the historical association and that no active Red Beard Games office remains.

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