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14 MCV 13/08/10 MCV’S 600th ISSUE HIGH-PROFILE BIRTHS, DEATHS & MARRIAGES…


Over the last 12 years, the games industry’s leading businesses have danced around like a game of musical chairs. Some falling to the ground – the rest wedged in each others’ laps. Here are the highlights…


23


KEY COMPANIES FORMED


505 Games Born from the flames of Italian publisher 505 Gamestreet in 2007


Bigben Lazarus-like firm crashed out in 2005 but reformed this year


Deep Silver Koch Media created its own publishing label back in 2002 and it’s still going strong


Disney Interactive Studios After renaming as Buena Vista Games in 2003, Disney’s games network went all united in 2007


Evolution The maker of MotorStormand WRC was created in 1999, bought by Sony in 2007


Foundation 9 Star Warsdeveloper formed from the merger of The Collective and Backbone in 2005


Gamecock Media Group Founded in 2007 by games industry veterans. Snapped up, and shut, by SouthPeak in 2008


Imagine Publishing 2005 saw Future’s rival in games founded in Bournemouth


Infinity Ward The Call of Dutycreator was set up back in 2002 thanks to investment from Activision


Jagex Its browser-based MMO, Runescape, was released in 2001, and propelled its founders up The Sunday Times Rich List


Kuju Created from the flames of former flight sim studio Simis, following an MBO escape from Eidos in 1998


Mastertronic Sold Out and The Producers merged to form long-lasting value experts


MTV Games The broadcaster has slowly built up a division that includes casual games and music games over the last ten years


PopCap Casual games developer and portal was formed in 2000


Play.com The successful Jersey- based online retailer formed in 1998


Realtime Worlds Crackdownstudio announced its arrival on the scene in 2002


Sumo Digital The Sheffield studio, developer of Doctor Who: The Adventure Games, opened in 2002 and is now owned by US firm Foundation 9


TIGA Great defender of UK independent development community unleashed in 2001


Uncooked Media 360 Gamerpublisher was launched back in 2003


Virgin Gaming Branson revived his games dream this year with a multiplayer service partnership


Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment After its first stab at games in 2004, it returned in 2007


Xbox Microsoft announced its intentions to enter games in 1998


Zynga Facebook games giant arrived in 2007


18


MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS


Activision Blizzard Blushing bride Bobby Kotick united this goliath force, which incorporates Activision with the house that made World of Warcraft, in 2007


Angel Studios Bought by Take-Two in 2002 and dubbed Rockstar San Diego


Bizarre Creations Stalwart UK developer was acquired by Activision in 2007


Black Rock Studios Disney snapped up Climax Racing in 2006 and allowed the team to rebrand itself


Gamestation Acquired by Blockbuster in 2002, second marriage to GAME in 2007 far more fortuitous


Harmonix The music game studio was bought by MTV Games in 2006 for a cool $175m


IGN The games media site was declared husband and wife with Murdoch’s NewsCorp in 2005


IO Interactive Hitmanand Kane & Lynchcreator was born back in 1998, and bought by Eidos in 2004


Lionhead Peter Molyneux’s studio was sold off to Microsoft in 2007


Media Molecule The LittleBigPlanet studio was formed in 2006 and bought by Sony earlier this year


Playdom The social game developer was bought by Disney just weeks ago for $763m…


Playfish …but EA was the first to the big-money Facebook game spends, nabbing this British firm for $400m in 2009


Red Octane The publisher of the first Guitar Heroeventually became a division of Activision in 2006


Rockstar Games Controversial GTAkings blazed into action in 1998, following Take- Two’s acquisition of DMA Design


Rocksteady Warner Bros bought a majority stake in the London-based Arkham Asylumdeveloper earlier this year


Sports Interactive The Champ Manstudio divorced Eidos in 2003, signed with Sega and was bought by the firm in 2006


THQ Digital Warrington Formed in 2003 as Juice, bought by THQ in 2006, then transformed into an online game team in 2010


Trilogy In late 2009 the distributor was rescued from administration by rival firm Gem


37


DEAD BUSINESSES


3dfx Bankruptcy in 2000


3DO Company Trip Hawkins’ hardware firm died in 2003


Acclaim Entertainment Hit bankruptcy in 2004


Argonaut Games Called in the receivers in October 2004


Brash Entertainment Megabucks US publisher opened in 2007… and had spent itself to death within 18 months


Brøderbund Sold off in 1998


CHIPSWORLD Indie chain has closed but franchises remain


ChoicesUK Chain shut in 2007


Core Design Sold to Rebellion in ‘06


Delphine Software Sold in 2003


DMA Design Renamed Rockstar North in 2002


Elixir Studios UK studio closed in ‘06


Empire Interactive UK publisher eventually closed in 2009


ePlay


UK indie chain went into administration in 2007


EUK Distribution giant collapsed in 2008


Free Radical UK studio closed in ‘08


GRIN Duff games for Warner and Capcom led to closure


GT Interactive Assets sold to Infogrames


Headfirst Productions Closed in 2006


Ion Storm Deus Ex dev shut in ‘05


Just Distribution Shut down in 2008


Kaboom Studios Liquidated in 2003


Live Publishing Mag publisher shut in ‘05


Mucky Foot Studio closed in 2003


Pandemic Opened in 1998, bought by EA for $800m in 2007, shut down in 2009


Pinnacle Distributor closed in ‘08


Psygnosis Brand retired in 1999


Rage Software Went bankrupt in 2003


Runecraft British developer ceased trading in 2002


SEGA Racing Studio Shut down in 2008


Shiny Media Blog network, which included UK Resistance, collapsed in 2009


Software Creations Bought by Acclaim in 2002, shut by 2004


Tiger Telematics Gizmondo firm went bankrupt in 2006


Virgin Interactive British publisher was essentially split up and sold off out of existence


Woolworths Beloved chain hurt by the credit crunch, gone by the end of 2008


Zavvi Built after 2007 Virgin Megastore MBO – dead by the end of 2008


Zushi Games Formed in 2009, in administration by 2010


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