UPDATE: Live chat recap: S2 Games CEO Marc DeForest on hiring, the future of tech industry in

Kalamazoo



KALAMAZOO, MI – Marc DeForest, CEO of video game developer S2 Games, says 2013 is a critical year for the company as it breaks into the Chinese video game market and the mobile gaming sector.

Join DeForest and I for a live chat today at 2 p.m. at the MLive.com hub in downtown Kalamazoo. The conversation will take place in the comment section below.



S2 Games recently moved into a corporate suite in the Portage Trade Centre after doubling its staff last year and is anticipating the release of an updated version of its most popular game, "Heroes of Newerth," or HoN.



Some topics I hope to chat about include the release of HoN 3.0, which will contain updated graphics and could come as soon as the end of the month, why he and his team are so passionate about breaking into the mobile gaming world and how he plans to be involved in developing the technology business sector in Kalamazoo.

DeForest, 35, also chimed in on the recently reignited debate about violence in video games and the impact the games have in behavior, a topic President Barack Obama said is in need of solid research.

HoN is a free PC-computer fantasy game, where multiple players with avatars team up for arena-style battles. Each player creates a customized hero with various skills or powers. The game has more than 2.5 million active users from around the world and DeForest says it’s considered the most popular PC video game in Thailand, an accolade he never expected.

About DeForest

Top game inspirations for "Heroes of Newerth":

Warcraft III

Dark Age of Camelot

Age of Empires

Counter-Strike

Golgo 13

Allegiance



Favorite gaming system:

"The first black and white Game Boy. I come from a modest background so the only way I could get to the new system was to take all of the games I had and the system and sell it to then use that money to buy the next system," DeForest said.

Besides being the CEO of S2 Games, a father of three and a husband, DeForest is also well-known in the HoN gamer world as "Maliken."



He says he is very proud to live in the Kalamazoo region, which is in part why he launched a banana billboard campaign across town and has funded the Oshtemo Township fireworks in the past.

A native of Jackson, DeForest relocated to Kalamazoo to attend Western Michigan University to earn a degree in business. He parlayed earnings from a website development and Internet service provider to start the video game production company 11 years ago with Jesse Hayes, who is now the director of art for the company and runs S2 Games’ office in Sonoma County, Calif., and a man named Sam McGrath, who left the company.

DeForest stopped going to college to become an entrepreneur, a title he's proudly held since he was 18 years old.

The company is currently hiring a team of mobile developers to run the mobile division, which is a subsidiary company called iGames. The company will develop games for the average smartphone user.

He says he has received plenty of local applicants and would love to hire locally. DeForest says he has already met with various educators in the community to talk about the role S2 Games could play in K-12 education.

DeForest has also mentioned that S2 is working on another game, but he remains mum on all details.

Contact Ursula Zerilli at uzerilli@mlive.com or 269-254-5295. Follow her on twitter.