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Highdive Tech Stack

NetEase Games studio building stylized AAA titles in Unreal Engine 5

Computer Games Montréal, QC 51–200 employees Founded 2019 Privately Held

Highdive is a Montreal-based game studio under NetEase Games' ThunderFire label, shipping original IP across PC and console in Unreal Engine 5. The hiring mix—heavily weighted toward art and design (11 roles) with only 3 engineering openings, and skewed senior—reflects a studio in art production phase rather than prototyping. Active projects span character dynamics, rigging automation, and fluid simulation, signaling the technical depth required for stylized AAA visuals alongside narrative-driven gameplay.

Tech Stack 20 technologies

Core StackC++ Jira Confluence Python C# Miro Unreal Engine 5 HLSL GLSL Perforce Unreal Insights Razor R Maya Unreal Engine 3ds Max ZBrush Substance Painter Photoshop SpeedTree

What Highdive Is Building

◆Challenges

Improving gameplay responsiveness
Optimizing animation pipeline
Performance and memory budget constraints

▲Active Projects

Original stylized project in ue5
Blood message
Upcoming aaa title
Fluid simulation system
Pipeline and tool development for new title
Character dynamics implementation
Automation of rigging tools
Original project character art pipeline
New ip for pc and console
New ip narrative design

Hiring Activity

Decelerating15 roles · 3 in 30d

Department

Design

11

Engineering

3

Seniority

Senior

9

Lead

3

Director

1

Mid

1

Notable leadership hires: Lead Artist, Narrative Lead

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About Highdive

Highdive develops original games as part of NetEase Games' ThunderFire division, operating from Montreal since 2019. The studio focuses on stylized AAA titles for PC and console, leveraging Unreal Engine 5, C++, and a deep art pipeline built on Maya, ZBrush, Substance Painter, and proprietary tools. The team balances real-time rendering optimization against gameplay responsiveness and animation performance constraints—core tensions in shipping high-fidelity interactive experiences.

HeadquartersMontréal, QC

Company Size51–200 employees

Founded2019

Hiring MarketsCanada

Frequently Asked Questions

What game engine does Highdive use?

Unreal Engine 5. The stack also includes HLSL/GLSL shaders, Perforce for version control, and Unreal Insights for profiling and optimization.

What art and design tools does Highdive use?

Maya, 3ds Max, ZBrush, Substance Painter, Photoshop, and SpeedTree. The studio also builds custom pipelines and automation tools within Unreal Engine to manage rigging and character workflows.

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