DROsoft

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DROsoft
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Video games
Founded1985;39 years ago (1985)
Defunct1995;29 years ago (1995)
Headquarters Madrid, Spain
Parent Electronic Arts (1994–1995)

DROsoft was a Spanish computer and video game software distributor headquartered in Madrid. The company was founded in 1985 out of DRO Records, Spain's first independent record label. [1] It is considered to have played a part in the golden age of Spanish software, [2] having been described as one of the "principal distributors" of the age. [3] [4]

They were associated with the publication of a number of ZX Spectrum games, [5] some of which were marketed specifically for their translations to Spanish. [6] The company was further noted for translations of British-made games into Spanish, with the quality of the translations justifying their higher prices as compared to the rest of their software lineup. [7]

DROsoft also published the first graphical adventure game developed in Spain, Igor: Objective Uikokahonia , developed by Pendulo Studios. [8]

In 1988, they entered into an agreement to cooperate with Dinamic Software in distributing games, both in Spain and internationally. [9]

They were acquired by Electronic Arts on 14 November 1994, in order to allow direct distribution of Electronic Arts' software to the Spanish region. [10] One of its founding directors, Miguel Angel Gomez, later became the managing director of EMI Spain; [11] another, Jesús Alonso Gallo, went on to sell another business, Restaurantes.com, to the Michelin Group. [12]

In September 1995 they distributed the first E-books designed for children, as produced by Broderbund. [13] Their last published game was the Spanish version of Discworld in 1995. [14]

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References

  1. ↑ Tejada, Ignacio Saenz de (15 November 1986). "El primer lustro de DRO" [The first glimmer of DRO]. El País (in Spanish). ISSN   1134-6582 . Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  2. ↑ Rodríguez, Fernando (21 February 2003). "Historia del software español de entretenimiento" [History of Spanish entertainment software]. Macedonia Magazine (in Spanish). Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  3. ↑ Esteve Gutiérrez, Jaume (2012). Ocho Quilates: una historia de la Edad de Oro del software español (1987 - 1992)[Eight carats: a history of the Golden Age of Spanish software (1987-1992)] (in Spanish). Star-T Magazine Books. ISBN   978-1-5305-2468-6. OCLC   1026223350.
  4. ↑ Agudo, Sergio (27 May 2016). "La edad de oro del software español: una reivindicación romántica" [The golden age of Spanish software: a romantic claim]. Malavida (in Spanish). Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  5. ↑ "Dro Soft (Spain)". Spectrum Computing. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  6. ↑ "DROSoft Software Catalogue". World of Spectrum. Archive.org. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  7. ↑ "Dro Soft: Bajaremos los precios de todos nuestros programas" [Dro Soft: We'll lower the prices of all our programmes]. MicroHobby (in Spanish). No. 119. Hobby Press. 10–16 March 1987. p. 5. Retrieved 23 July 2020– via archive.org.
  8. ↑ Lago, Yago (28 October 2019). "La Mansión Maníaca: entrevista sobre Little Misfortune y 25 años de Igor Objetivo Uikokahonia" [The Manic Mansion: interview about Little Misfortune and 25 years of Igor: Objective Uikokahonia]. MeriStation (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  9. ↑ "Acuerdo entre Dinamic y Dro Soft" [Agreement between Dinamic and Dro Soft]. MicroHobby (in Spanish). No. 169. Hobby Press. 10–23 May 1988. p. 6. Retrieved 28 July 2020– via archive.org.
  10. ↑ "Electronic Arts acquires distributor in Spain; forms third subsidiary in continental Europe" (Press release). Electronic Arts. 14 November 1994. Archived from the original on 16 May 2013 – via TheFreeLibrary.com.
  11. ↑ Llewellyn, Howell (2 November 1996). "EMI Spain ups VP Miguel Angel Gomez to managing director". Billboard . Vol. 108, no. 44. Retrieved 28 July 2020– via Google Books.
  12. ↑ "Jesús Alonso Gallo, business angel y fundador de restaurantes.com" [Jesús Alonso Gallo, business angel and founder of restaurantes.com]. www.elreferente.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  13. ↑ "DRO Soft comercializa los Living Books de Broderbund" [DRO Soft distributes Broderbund Living Books] (Press release) (in Spanish). DROsoft. 1 September 1995. Archived from the original on 11 July 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2020– via PCWorld.
  14. ↑ "Dro Soft". MobyGames. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
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