Crave Entertainment

Last updated
Crave Entertainment
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Video games
Founded1997;27 years ago (1997)
FounderNima Taghavi
Defunct2012;12 years ago (2012)
FateDissolved
Headquarters Newport Beach, California, United States
Key people
  • Nima Taghavi (CEO)
  • Vincent Bitetti (President) [1]
Subsidiaries
Website CraveGames.com
Crave's old logo 2004-2011 CraveLogo.png
Crave's old logo 2004–2011

Crave Entertainment (aka Crave Games) was an American video game publisher founded in 1997 by Nima Taghavi. Its headquarters was in Newport Beach, California. It was acquired by Handleman Company in 2005 in a deal valued up to $95,000,000 but was then sold to Fillpoint LLC in early 2009 for only $8,100,000 due to Handleman's bankruptcy and pending liquidation. During its lifetime it published games for Dreamcast, Wii, Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo 64, GameCube, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PSP, Xbox, and Xbox 360. Crave mainly focused on budget titles, and imported games such as Tokyo Xtreme Racer series.

Contents

History

Crave Entertainment was founded in 1997 by Nima Taghavi as a subsidiary of distributor, SVG Distributions. The company was headquartered in Los Angeles, with offices in San Francisco, Tokyo, Paris, and Hamburg. [2] In 1998 the company acquired Lobotomy Software, the creators of Death Tank and PowerSlave. [3] That same year the company also acquired Big Rain, a studio formed by former Squaresoft veterans and founded its first internal studio, Craveyard Studios. [4] [5] [6] In 1999 Crave signed an exclusive five year licensing deal for the video game rights to Ultimate Fighting Championship. [7]

The company briefly held a European distribution deal with Square Europe in 2000. [8] In November 2000, Crave announced that they would sign a European co-publishing and distribution deal with Ubi Soft. [9]

In 2005 the company and its parent company were acquired by Handleman who would later sell the publisher to Fillpoint in 2009. [10] [11] In 2006, it formed a partnership with Oxygen Interactive via Liquid Games, whereas Liquid Games would market its titles by Crave Entertainment for the European market. [12]

During Fillpoint ownership, the company launched its own label for its family friendly gaming, Red Wagon Games. [13]

On August 15, 2012, Fillpoint LLC filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, with Crave ceasing operations. [14] In 2023, the website was revived with a Coming Soon page by Fillpoint and Throwback Entertainment. [15]

List of video games published by Crave Entertainment

Cancelled games

Related Research Articles

<i>Star Wars</i> video games Video games based on the Star Wars franchise

Over one hundred video games based on the Star Wars franchise have been released, dating back to some of the earliest home consoles. Some are based directly on films while others rely heavily on the Star Wars Expanded Universe.

<i>NFL 2K2</i> 2001 video game

NFL 2K2 is a 2001 video game for Dreamcast by Sega and developed by Visual Concepts. It is the last game for the Sega Dreamcast in the series after being discontinued before Sega shifted to a third party publisher. Because of this shift, it was released later for PlayStation 2 and Xbox. It is also the first Xbox game published by Sega, and the last game in the NFL 2K series to feature Randy Moss as a cover athlete.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Titus Interactive</span> French video game publisher

Titus Interactive SA, known as Titus France SA until March 1999, was a French software publisher that produced and published video games for various platforms. Its head office was located in Parc de l'Esplanade in Lagny sur Marne in Greater Paris. At one time, it was instead located in Montfermeil, also in Greater Paris.

<i>Tokyo Xtreme Racer</i> (video game) 1999 video game

Tokyo Xtreme Racer, known as Shutokō Battle in Japan and Tokyo Highway Challenge in Europe, is a 1999 racing video game by Genki, for Sega's Dreamcast console. Released as a launch title in the West, the game was one of the first mission-based racing games; it is based on illegal highway racing in Tokyo's Wangan highway with custom tuned cars. It was the second title in the Shutoku Battle/Tokyo Xtreme Racer series to be released in the West following Tokyo Highway Battle (1996).

<i>Tokyo Xtreme Racer 2</i> 2000 video game

Tokyo Xtreme Racer 2, known as Shutokō Battle 2 in Japan and Tokyo Highway Challenge 2 in PAL territories, is a 2000 racing video game and the sequel to Tokyo Xtreme Racer, which is also on the Dreamcast. Tokyo Xtreme Racer 2 has been enhanced with better sound quality and graphics over its predecessor. The game managed to produce two more sequels. It is the last game in the series that was produced for Sega Dreamcast, though some of the game's mechanics were implemented into Daytona USA 2001.

<i>Re-Volt</i> 1999 video game

Re-Volt is a racing video game designed by Paul Phippen and Simon Harrison. It was developed by Acclaim Studios London and published by Acclaim Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo 64, PlayStation and Dreamcast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Genki (company)</span> Japanese video game developer

Genki Co., Ltd. is a Japanese video game developer. It was founded in October 1990 by Hiroshi Hamagaki and Tomo Kimura, who left Sega to form the company. The company is best known for its racing game titles.

Tokyo Xtreme Racer, known as Shutokō Battle in Japan, is an arcade-style racing video game series created by Genki, inspired by street racing on the Shuto Expressway in Tokyo. Its first installment, Shutokō Battle '94: Drift King, was released in 1994 for the Super Famicom, while the latest installment is Shutokou Battle Xtreme, for iOS and Android in 2017; in 2024, Genki announced a new entry, the first console racing game in 18 years, for PC, with a planned 2025 release.

<i>Sega Bass Fishing</i> 1997 video game

Sega Bass Fishing, known in Japan as Get Bass, is an arcade fishing video game developed in 1997 by Sega for the Sega Model 3 hardware. The game has since been ported to the Dreamcast, Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii.

<i>Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection</i> 2004 video game

Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection is a pinball video game developed by FarSight Studios and published by Crave Entertainment. The tables featured in the game are recreations of real tables. A revised edition of the PlayStation 2 version of the game was later released as Gottlieb Pinball Classics in Europe and Australia by System 3 under their Play It label. This expanded version featured three additional tables, and was subsequently released in North America on the Wii and PlayStation Portable under its original title.

<i>Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Drift</i> 2003 video game

Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Drift is the third racing game published by Crave Entertainment for the PlayStation 2. It is the fourth main installment in Shutokō Battle series. The game allows racing at both day and night. Daytime offers the opportunity to enter competitions and gain money, while night time is where the player can race against rivals to gain respect.

<i>Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection</i> 2008 video game

Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection is a pinball video game developed by FarSight Studios and published by Crave Entertainment for Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360, and Nintendo 3DS. Players play on a variety of classic virtual pinball machines from Williams Electronics' history. The Williams Collection follows the previous title, Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection.

Metro3D, Inc. was an American video game developer and publisher. Based in San Jose, California, and founded in 1998, the company released several games for the Dreamcast, Game Boy Color (GBC), Game Boy Advance (GBA), and PlayStation 2 (PS2) consoles.

Online console gaming involves connecting a console to a network over the Internet for services. Through this connection, it provides users the ability to play games with other users online, in addition to other online services.

<i>The Pinball Arcade</i> 2012 video game

The Pinball Arcade is a pinball video game developed by FarSight Studios. The game is a simulated collection of 100 real pinball tables licensed by Gottlieb, Alvin G. and Company, and Stern Pinball, a company which also owns the rights of machines from Data East and Sega Pinball. Williams and Bally games are no longer available since June 30, 2018, as FarSight had lost the license to WMS properties, which has since passed to Zen Studios.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Majesco Entertainment</span> American video game publisher and distributor

Majesco Entertainment Company is an American video game publisher and distributor based in Hazlet, New Jersey. The company was founded as Majesco Sales in Edison, New Jersey in 1986, and was a privately held company until acquiring operation-less company ConnectivCorp in a reverse merger takeover, becoming its subsidiary and thus a public company on December 5, 2003. ConnectivCorp later changed its name to Majesco Holdings Inc. on April 13, 2004.

<i>Sno-Cross Championship Racing</i> 2000 video game

Sno-Cross Championship Racing is an extreme sports video game. It was developed by Unique Development Studios and published by Crave Entertainment.

References

  1. ↑ Adams, David (September 1, 2004). "Crave Gets New President". IGN . Retrieved April 29, 2013.
  2. ↑ "Corporate Overview". Archived from the original on 2001-04-10. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
  3. ↑ "Crave Lobotomizes Las Vegas". IGN. 28 March 1998. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
  4. ↑ "Exclusive Interview: Crave Entertainment". IGN. 1998-04-10. Retrieved 2023-08-08.
  5. ↑ "Details on Crave RPG Uncovered". IGN. 1997-11-20. Retrieved 2023-08-08.
  6. ↑ "Playing Catch-Up: Ted Woolsey". Game Developer. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
  7. ↑ "Ultimate Fighting Championship Details". Gamespot. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
  8. ↑ https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/infogrames-gets-square
  9. ↑ https://www.eurogamer.net/article-29759
  10. ↑ "Handleman acquires Crave Entertainment Group". Games Industry. 24 October 2005. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
  11. ↑ "Crave Entertainment acquisition". Games Industry. 24 February 2009. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
  12. ↑ "Oxygen Brings Crave Titles To Europe". WorthPlaying. Retrieved 2023-08-28.
  13. ↑ rawmeatcowboy (2010-11-19). "Red Wagon Games flies Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer into retail stores this holiday season". GoNintendo. Retrieved 2023-08-08.
  14. ↑ "Malta video game distribution company Fillpoint files for bankruptcy". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2023-06-29.
  15. ↑ "Coming Soon" . Retrieved 2024-03-02.
  16. ↑ "Details on Crave RPG Uncovered". IGN . November 20, 1997. Retrieved April 5, 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.