- Mark Butler
- David Lawson
magine Software was a British video games developer based in Liverpool which existed briefly in the early 1980s, initially producing software for the ZX Spectrum and VIC-20. The company rose quickly to prominence and was noted for its polished, high-budget approach to packaging and advertising (at a time when this was not commonplace in the British software industry), as well as its self-promotion and ambition.
Following Imagine's high-profile demise under mounting debts in 1984, the name was bought and used as a label by Ocean Software until the late 1980s.
History[edit]
Founding and early success[edit]
Imagine Software was founded in 1982 by former members of Bug-Byte Mark Butler and David Lawson. Butler and programmer Eugene Evans had previously worked at Microdigital, one of the first computer stores in the UK.[4] The owner of Microdigital, Bruce Everiss, was invited to join the company to run the company day-to-day and run the PR department.[5] Imagine Software produced several very successful games, including Arcadia[4] for the Vic 20 and ZX Spectrum, throughout 1982 and 1983, but some games shipped with serious, game-breaking bugs. The company grew in size through this period, at one point employing upwards of 80 people, a large number for its time, and splashed out large sums of money on company cars and the founding of a racing team to race in the Isle of Man TT race.[6]
Financial troubles and demise[edit]
Rumours of Imagine's financial situation began to circulate in December 1983 following the revelations that an estimated £50,000 of its advertising bills had not been paid.[7] The following year the debts mounted, with further advertising and tape duplication bills going unpaid, and Imagine was forced to sell the rights to its games to Beau Jolly in order to raise money. The company then achieved nationwide notoriety when it was filmed the following year by a BBC documentary crew while in the process of going spectacularly bust.[4] Mark Butler also made an appearance on Thames Television's Daytime programme in 1984, talking about his experience of having been a millionaire who lost his money at a young age.
On 28 June 1984 a writ was issued against Imagine by VNU Business Press for money owed for advertising in Personal Computer Games magazine, and the company was wound up on 9 July 1984 at the High Court in London after it was unable to raise the £10,000 required to pay this debt (though by this time its total debts ran to hundreds of thousands of pounds).[1][3]
Legacy[edit]
Former programmers went on to establish Psygnosis and Denton Designs.[4] The company's back catalogue was owned by Beau Jolly, who in turn later sold those rights to Subvert, while rights to the Imagine label were acquired by Ocean Software, which primarily used it to publish home computer conversions of popular arcade games.
In other media[edit]
The Black Mirror interactive film Bandersnatch, released in 2018, alludes to Imagine Software and the failed work to produce Bandersnatch. The film starts on 9 July 1984, the date of Imagine's closure, and includes a shot of the cover of Crash reporting on the closure. Within the film, the fictional software company Tuckersoft, which had developed both Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum games, places its financial future on the attempt to produce Bandersnatch, and in some scenarios falls into bankruptcy after the game fails to appear.[8][9]
Megagames[edit]
Imagine had intended to develop six so-called "Megagames", the most well-known of which were Psyclapse and Bandersnatch. These games were designed to push the boundaries of the hardware of the time, even to the extent that they were intended to be released with a hardware add-on which would have increased the capabilities of the computer, as well as guarding against piracy. The games were advertised heavily and would have retailed at around £30 – an expensive price tag when the average price of a game at the time was £7.20 – but Imagine's collapse meant that they remained vaporware and never saw the light of day.[4][10][11]
During the BBC documentary it was revealed that Psyclapse was little more than a paper sketch,[4] though the name was later used for a sub-label of Psygnosis.[12] Most of the concepts originally intended for Bandersnatch eventually appeared in another Psygnosis game, Brataccas, for the 16-bit Atari ST, Amiga and Macintosh computers.[13]
Games[edit]
- Arcadia, 1982
- Wacky Waiters, 1982
- Frantic, 1982
- Catcha Snatcha, 1983
- Schizoids, 1983
- Ah Diddums, 1983
- Molar Maul, 1983
- Jumping Jack aka Leggit!, 1983
- Zip Zap, 1983
- Zzoom, 1983
- Bewitched, 1983
- Stonkers, 1983
- Alchemist, 1983
- Pedro, 1984
- Cosmic Cruiser, 1984
- BC Bill, 1984[14]
Jon Woods
Gary Bracey (Software Development Manager)
Steve Blower (Art Director)
Colin Stokes (Operations Manager)
Marc Djan (Ocean France)
Ocean Software Ltd was a British software development company that became one of the biggest European video game developers and publishers of the 1980s and 1990s.
The company was founded by David Ward and Jon Woods and was based in Manchester. Ocean developed dozens of games for a variety of systems such as the ZX Spectrum, Oric 1, Commodore 64, Dragon 32/64, MSX, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 16, Atari ST, Amiga, IBM PC, BBC Micro and video game consoles, such as the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Master System, and Mega Drive.
History[edit]
Jon Woods and David Ward created Spectrum Games as a mail-order business in 1983 after being inspired by the success of Liverpool-based software houses Imagine Software, Bug-Byte and Software Projects.[1]: 13–14 Their initial catalogue was based around clones of arcade video games like Frogger and Missile Command[1]: 13 for various home computers including the ZX81, ZX Spectrum and VIC-20.[2]
While trying to sell their titles into high street stores it became clear that the company name was confusing to owners of machines other than the ZX Spectrum.[1]: 16 The company was renamed Ocean Software leading to some of its games being re-released with different titles so the Berzerk clone Frenzy was reissued as Robotics and Missile Attack became Armageddon.
By September 1984 the success of Ocean allowed Woods and Ward to invest £50,000 in a new software house in return for a 50% stake in the company. U.S. Gold was created by Geoff Brown, owner of Centresoft software distribution, and specialised in importing American Commodore 64 games for the UK market. U.S. Gold had no developers to port the Commodore games for the UK's most popular home computer, the ZX Spectrum, so Ocean produced the conversions of titles such as Beach Head, Raid over Moscow and Tapper through its external development team, Platinum Productions.[3]: 37 [4]
In October 1984 Ocean bought the name and branding of Imagine Software from the liquidators of the failed software house. Although originally intended to be a label exclusively for arcade conversions,[5] the Imagine logo would also be used on a number of original titles, as well as on UK releases of games licensed from Spanish developers Dinamic Software.
In 1985 Ocean and U.S. Gold collaborated again to launch a new label, The Hit Squad, for releasing compilation packages.[3]: 69 The first release featured Ocean's Daley Thompson's Decathlon, U.S. Gold's Beach Head, Jet Set Willy from Software Projects and Sabre Wulf by Ultimate Play the Game — all titles which had sold over a million copies — which led to the title They Sold A Million. The compilation went on to sell over a million copies, as did the second and third instalments in the series.
Over half of Ocean's releases for 8-bit home computers were coin-op conversions and licensed games.[5] While initially focused on British licences, such as Hunchback from Manchester's Century Electronics,[6] Liverpool's Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Olympic decathlete Daley Thompson, its attention soon shifted to film licences, with The NeverEnding Story becoming its first movie tie-in in 1985.[1]: 16
In 1986, a deal was signed with Taito and Data East for home versions of their arcade games, such as Arkanoid, Renegade, The NewZealand Story and Operation Wolf. Operation Wolf was the first title to be converted to 16-bit platforms by Ocean France, a company created by Ocean and Marc Djan in 1986. The studio produced most of its 16-bit arcade conversions until 1991, when the company became Ocean's French marketing and sales department.[7]
Success of film-licensed games[edit]
1986 also produced titles based on the films Rambo, Short Circuit and Cobra, as well as the first licensed Batman game. But it would be its 1988 game RoboCop, adapted from Data East's arcade game based on the film RoboCop, that would go on to become the most successful movie licence in history by the end of the decade.[8]
In 1987, Ocean via Imagine had a deal with Spanish publisher Dinamic Software to release four titles, before launching its own line in the United Kingdom.[9] The following year, Ocean signed a deal with Special FX Software, a company formed by ex-Ocean employees to release titles for home computers, starting with Firefly.[10]
In 1989, The Hit Squad branding reappeared as the new budget re-release label for Ocean's 8-bit back catalogue.[1]: 72 [11] The entire series consisted of 122 titles over seven 8-bit formats. Their uniform style and numbering has led to them becoming highly collectable.[11] Meanwhile, the company was working on its next big film tie-in, which would be specifically aimed at the new graphically superior 16-bit computers, the Atari ST and Amiga.[1]: 58
The success of RoboCop established Ocean globally,[8][1]: 52 and it would be Warner Bros. who suggested to Ocean that it produce a tie-in based on its forthcoming Batman movie.[1]: 58 The resulting game was another tremendous hit for the company and is now regarded as one of the greatest video game/film tie-ins.[12] The game was used as the basis of the Amiga 500 "Batman Pack",[1]: 58 which became one of the most successful hardware/software bundles of all time. In 1990, Ocean launched its new subsidiary, Ocean of America, led by former Data East boss Ray Musci to publish titles for the American market.[13]
Ocean was voted Best 8-bit Software House of the Year at the 1989 Golden Joystick Awards,[14] along with awards for its 8-bit and 16-bit conversions of Operation Wolf.
Merger with Infogrames (1996)[edit]
In 1996, Ocean's parent company Ocean International Ltd. announced they would be purchased by and merge with French publisher Infogrames[15] for £100 million. This was the first key purchase in Infogrames' "Expand through Acquisition" policy. After the merger, Ocean remained as a separate division of Infogrames, continuing to publish and distribute its own games, such as F-22: Air Dominance Fighter.,[16] with the UK subsidiary beginning to distribute titles from Infogrames, such as V-Rally.
In 1997, Infogrames' French publishing division Infogrames Télématique launched a European-focused online gaming website under the Ocean brand called Oceanline. The website offered up simplified online versions of a majority of Infogrames' game catalog.[17]
On 8 February 1998, Bruno Bonnell announced that Ocean Software Limited would be rebranded as Infogrames United Kingdom Limited in order to standardize its various subsidiaries under the Infogrames banner.[18][19] Ocean of America, Inc. was later renamed as Infogrames Entertainment, Inc.[20][21] Infogrames continued to use Ocean as a brand name for specific titles until the end of the year when the company quietly retired the brand in favour of their own. The last title published under the Ocean brand altogether was the North American release of GT 64: Championship Edition for the Nintendo 64.
Aftermath[edit]
Infogrames Entertainment, Inc. began to publish games under their own banner, replacing Infogrames' previous United States subsidiary I-Motion Inc. Infogrames Entertainment, Inc. was soon folded into Infogrames North America, Inc. — a renaming of Accolade — which then became Infogrames' United States division before being merged and folded into Infogrames, Inc., a renaming of GT Interactive.
The UK subsidiary continued to publish and distribute Infogrames' titles in the country, later being renamed as Atari United Kingdom Limited in 2003. In 2009, Bandai Namco Entertainment purchased Atari SA's European assets, and the remains of Ocean Software currently lie under the hands as Bandai Namco Entertainment's UK publishing and distribution division.[19]
Tape loaders[edit]
Starting with Daley Thompson's Decathlon in 1984, games on the ZX Spectrum used the Speedlock protection system, which eventually included a countdown timer showing the time left to load a game.[22] On the commodore 64 Ocean added a full screen graphic to look at and some catchy music to listen to during the loading of the tape. Several different Loaders[23] were implemented over the years. As of today as many as 11 loader are known to be created for Ocean games.
Games[edit]
Licensed games[edit]
- The Addams Family
- The Addams Family: Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt
- Addams Family Values
- Batman
- Batman: The Caped Crusader
- Batman: The Movie
- Clive Barker's Nightbreed: The Action Game
- Clive Barker's Nightbreed: The Interactive Movie
- Cobra
- Cool World
- Darkman
- Dennis the Menace
- Eek the Cat
- The Flintstones
- Frankie Goes to Hollywood
- Highlander
- Hook
- Hudson Hawk
- Jurassic Park
- Knight Rider
- Lethal Weapon
- Manchester United Championship Soccer
- Miami Vice
- Navy Seals
- Platoon
- Rambo
- Rambo 3
- Red Heat
- RoboCop
- RoboCop 2
- RoboCop 3
- Run the Gauntlet
- The Shadow
- Short Circuit
- Street Hawk
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day
- Top Gun
- Total Recall
- The Transformers
- The Untouchables
- V: The Computer Game
- Waterworld
- WWF European Rampage Tour
- WWF WrestleMania
Arcade conversions[edit]
- Arkanoid (1987, Imagine)
- Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh (1988, Imagine)
- Athena (1987, Imagine)
- Cabal (1989)
- Chase H.Q. (1988)
- Chase HQ II (1989)
- Combat School (1987)
- Donkey Kong (1986)
- DragonNinja (1989, Imagine)
- Green Beret (1986, Imagine)
- Galivan (1986, Imagine)
- Gryzor (Contra) (1987)
- Guerrilla War (1988, Imagine)
- Hunchback (1984)
- Hyper Sports (1985, Imagine)
- Konami's Golf (1986, Imagine)
- Konami's Tennis (1986, Imagine)
- The Legend of Kage (1987, Imagine)
- MagMax (1987, Imagine)
- Midnight Resistance (1990)
- Mikie (1985, Imagine)
- The NewZealand Story (1989)
- Operation Thunderbolt (1990)
- Operation Wolf (1989)
- Pang (1990)
- Ping Pong (1986, Imagine)
- Psycho Soldier (1987, Imagine)
- Rainbow Islands (1990)
- Rastan (1988, Imagine)
- Renegade (1986, Imagine)
- Salamander (1988)
- Shadow Warriors (1990)
- Slap Fight (1987, Imagine)
- Space Gun (1992)
- Terra Cresta (1986, Imagine)
- Toki (1991)
- Yie Ar Kung-Fu (1985, Imagine)
Other games[edit]
- 90 Minutes European Prime Goal (SNES PAL) (1995)
- Animal (1996)
- Armageddon (1983)
- Battle Command (1990)
- Beach Volley (1989)
- Burnin' Rubber (1990)
- Cavelon (1984)
- Central Intelligence (1994) (included in Ocean Classics on Steam)
- Cheesy (1996)
- Choplifter III (1994)
- ClayFighter (SNES PAL) (1994)
- Claymates (SNES PAL) (1993)
- Daley Thompson's Decathlon (1984)
- Daley Thompson's Olympic Challenge (1988)
- Daley Thompson's Star Events (1985)
- Daley Thompson's Supertest (1985)[24]
- Digger Dan (1983)
- Doom (SNES PAL) (1996)
- Eco (1987)
- EF2000 (1997)
- Elf (1991)
- Epic (1992)
- F29 Retaliator (1990)
- FIFA International Soccer (SNES PAL) (1994)
- Fighters Destiny (Nintendo 64) (1998)
- Fighters Destiny 2 (Nintendo 64) (1999)
- The Great Escape (1986)
- The Games '92: España (1992)
- GT Racing 97 (1997)
- Head over Heels (1987)
- Helikopter Jagd (1986)
- Hunchback II (1985)[25]
- Island of Death (1983)
- Inferno (1994)
- Ivanhoe (1990)
- Jelly Boy (1995)
- Jersey Devil (1997)
- Kid Chaos, also known as Kid Vicious (1994)
- Kong (1983)
- Kong Strikes Back! (1984)
- Last Rites (1997)
- Lost Patrol (1990)
- Madden NFL '95 (SNES PAL) (1994)
- Match Day (1985)
- Match Day II (1987)
- Micro Machines (SNES & Game Boy) (1994)
- Micro Machines 2: Turbo Tournament (SNES & Game Boy) (1996)
- Mr. Nutz (1993)
- Mr. Nutz: Hoppin' Mad (1994)
- Mr. Wimpy (1984)
- MRC: Multi-Racing Championship (Nintendo 64) (1997)
- NBA Live 95 (SNES PAL) (1994)
- Nightmare Rally (1986)
- Parallax (1986)
- Parasol Stars (1992)[26]
- Pushover (1992)
- Renegade III: The Final Chapter (1989, Imagine)
- Sleepwalker (1993)
- Soccer Kid (1994)
- Super James Pond (SNES & Game Boy PAL) (1993)
- Super Soccer (ZX Spectrum) (1986, Imagine)
- Super Turrican 2 (1995)
- Target: Renegade (1988, Imagine)
- TFX (1993)
- Transversion[27]
- True Pinball (1996)
- Tunnel B1 (1996) (Published by Acclaim Entertainment in North America)
- Voyager (Atari ST, Amiga) (1989)
- Weaponlord (SNES PAL) (1995)
- Where Time Stood Still (1987)
- Wizball (1987)
- Wizkid (1992)
- Worms (1995)
- X2 (1996)
- Zero Divide (1996)
Post-Infogrames titles[edit]
The last few titles from Ocean before being renamed were published and distributed under Infogrames' umbrella, and consisted mostly of titles from Infogrames themselves.
| Game | Developer | Platform | Release Date | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I-War/Independence War | Particle Systems | Microsoft Windows | November 1997 (PAL) 18 August 1998 (US) | PAL release published by Infogrames Multimedia. North American release published as Infogrames Entertainment. |
| F-22: Air Dominance Fighter | Digital Image Design | Microsoft Windows | 1 December 1997 (PAL) | North American release published as Infogrames Entertainment. |
| Fighters Destiny | Opus Corp. | Nintendo 64 | 26 January 1998 (US) 1 March 1998 (PAL) | PAL release published as Infogrames United Kingdom. |
| GT 64: Championship Edition | Imagineer | Nintendo 64 | 14 April 1998 (PAL) 31 August 1998 (US) | PAL release published as Infogrames United Kingdom. North American release published as Infogrames Entertainment. |
| Lucky Luke | Infogrames Multimedia | PlayStation | 3 May 1998 (PAL) November 1998 (US) | PAL release published by Infogrames Multimedia. North American release published as Infogrames Entertainment. |
| Hexplore | Heliovisions Productions | Microsoft Windows | 1998 (PAL) September 1998 (US) | PAL release published by Infogrames Multimedia. North American release published by I•Motion and distributed by Infogrames Entertainment. |
| Wetrix | Zed Two | Nintendo 64, Microsoft Windows | Nintendo 64 12 June 1998 (US) 16 June 1998 (PAL) Microsoft Windows 1998 (US and PAL) | PAL release published as Infogrames United Kingdom. North American release published as Infogrames Entertainment. |
| V-Rally: Championship Edition | Velez & Dubail | Game Boy | July 1998 | PAL-regions only. Published by Infogrames Multimedia. |
| Viper | X-ample Developments | PlayStation | 15 July 1998 | PAL-regions only. Published as Infogrames United Kingdom Limited. |
| Mission: Impossible | Infogrames | Nintendo 64 | 16 July 1998 (US) 25 September 1998 (PAL) | North American release published as Infogrames Entertainment. PAL release published as Infogrames United Kingdom. |
| Snow Racer 98 | Power & Magic | PlayStation | 23 July 1998 | Europe only, published by Infogrames Multimedia. |
| Heart of Darkness | Amazing Studios | PlayStation | 31 July 1998 | European release, published as Infogrames Multimedia. Published by Interplay Productions in North America. |
| F-22 Total Air War | Digital Image Design | Microsoft Windows | Late-1998 | PAL-regions only. Published as Infogrames United Kingdom Limited. |
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