Factor 5

Last updated

Factor 5 GmbH
Factor 5, Inc (US branch)
Company type Private
Industry Video games
Founded1987
Defunct2011
HeadquartersCologne, Germany
San Rafael, California, U.S.
Key people
Achim Moller, CEO
Julian Eggebrecht, President (U.S. branch)
Products Lair
Rogue Squadron series
Turrican series
MusyX: Dolby Sound Tools
DivX For Games SDK
Website Official website

Factor 5 GmbH is a German-American independent software and video game developer. The company was co-founded by five former Rainbow Arts employees in 1987 in Cologne, Germany, which served as the inspiration behind the studio's name.

Contents

In order to have a stronger relationship with Factor 5's North American partners like LucasArts, Factor 5, Inc. was established in the United States in May 1996 with legal support from LucasArts, and in late 1996 the core of the development team in Germany was relocated to the North American company headquarters in San Rafael, California. [1] [2] Julian Eggebrecht, one of the five initial co-founders, served as President of Factor 5's U.S. branch.

The U.S. company closed in May 2009, following the closure of Brash Entertainment, with which the company had multiple contracts. [3] The original German company, headed by CEO Achim Moller, remained active due to its unrelated business policy and operations with the North American company. [4] [5]

However, in January 2011, Moller liquidated Factor 5 GmbH, and all game licenses were transferred to "Eggebrecht, Engel, Schmidt GbR". [6]

On March 15, 2017, Factor 5 co-founder Julian Eggebrecht had announced that the company has returned and re-acquired the rights to the Turrican franchise. [7]

History

The programming group which would eventually become Factor 5 had originally formed in the 1980s, in what cofounder Julian Eggebrecht described as a culture of hacking and multimedia programming on the local demo scene. Eggebrecht attended the Filmhochschule in Munich to become a movie director[ citation needed ], and all the other members studied computer science. [8]

While its founders were still university students, Factor 5 started out in game development as a part-time activity under partnership with Rainbow Arts for the Amiga computer. There, they had their earliest moderate success with Katakis , an R-Type clone of impressive technical performance.[ citation needed ] Due to the game's obvious similarity to R-Type, rights holder Activision Europe delivered an ultimatum: either Factor 5 accept a contract to perform the official R-Type conversion for the Amiga home computer, or receive a lawsuit for rights infringement. According to Julian Eggebrecht, this was because "Activision couldn't find any programmers" however the opportunity was "a dream come true". [8]

Their first important success, however, came with Turrican , [8] a game designed by Rainbow Arts designer Manfred Trenz. Factor 5 handled the Amiga and Atari ST versions of the game; and together with the original Commodore 64 version and several others, Turrican was a major hit across Europe in 1990.[ citation needed ]

In 1991, faced with the prospect of corporate formalities imposed by the video game console industry, the company founders quit school in favor of full-time corporate careers. Eggebrecht explained, "[t]he moment you go into console programming, you won't get a development system from Nintendo unless you have a reputable company." [8] After they finished work on Turrican II: The Final Fight for the Amiga and Atari ST in 1991, Factor 5 built their own development kits and software environments for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, codenamed Pegasus SNES and Pegasus Mega Drive. Subsequently, they decided to focus their efforts towards console game development in 1992 with several projects for the SNES and Mega Drive/Genesis, including new Turrican games and other titles contracted by companies like LucasArts, Hudson Soft and Konami, the latter of which had also Game Boy development contracts with them. In 1993, Factor 5 produced their last Amiga effort, an Amiga conversion of Mega Turrican handled with programming support from fellow company Neon Studios. They would develop games for the SNES, Mega Drive/Genesis, and Game Boy until 1996, when they switched their efforts to the PlayStation.

With the development of PlayStation games for LucasArts, the personnel located in Germany experienced communication difficulties in working with their North American partner due to the distance between both countries and the Internet speeds of that time being insufficient for the requirements of console development. This, together with legal assistance offered by LucasArts, resulted in a new Factor 5 branch in California. There, the core of the development team from Germany was established after they finished work on their PlayStation games in late 1996.

For a long time, the North American branch of Factor 5 was an exclusive, prominent development partner with both LucasArts and Nintendo, developing both game titles for the former and middleware tools for the latter. During that time, the studio gained considerable critical and commercial praise for its technical proficiency[ citation needed ], producing what are often cited as some of the most visually advanced titles on the Nintendo 64 and GameCube, all based on LucasArts properties. Two high-profile middleware tools were also developed by the company for Nintendo: MusyX, a sound system produced in cooperation with Dolby Laboratories; and the DivX For Games SDK, integrating the functionality of the popular video codec into Nintendo's development tools.

In late December 2008, several online media outlets reported that Brash Entertainment (Factor 5's publisher of their current project) would close at the end of the month after encountering financial problems. This sudden interruption in funding left Factor 5 with their own funding difficulties, eventually causing its closure in May 2009. [3]

Factor 5 had been involved in litigation with its former employees in the defunct North American Factor 5 company. The suit alleges that Factor 5 did not pay its employees for work during November and December, that employees were laid off without the required notice by law, that employees did not receive their vacation pay, and that the company misled the employees. [9] The suit was filed in Marin Superior Court.[ citation needed ]

Games

Factor 5 GmbH

Amiga

Atari ST

Super Nintendo Entertainment System

Sega Mega Drive/Genesis

Game Boy

MS-DOS

  • 1994: Tony & Friends in Kellogg's Land [10]

PlayStation

Cancelled games

Factor 5, Inc

Nintendo 64

Microsoft Windows

GameCube

PlayStation 3

Cancelled games

Technology

Related Research Articles

<i>Pilotwings</i> (video game) 1990 video game

Pilotwings is a flight simulation video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The game was originally released in Japan in December 1990, shortly after the launch of the Super Famicom in the country. It was also released as a launch title for the SNES in August 1991 in North America, with a European release following in 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Huelsbeck</span> Musical artist

Christopher Hülsbeck, known internationally as Chris Huelsbeck, is a German video game music composer. He gained popularity for his work on game soundtracks for The Great Giana Sisters and the Turrican series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Argonaut Games</span> British video game developer

Argonaut Games is a British video game developer founded in 1982. It was known for the Super NES video game Star Fox and its supporting Super FX chip, and for Croc: Legend of the Gobbos and the Starglider series. The company was liquidated in late 2004, and ceased to exist in early 2007. It was relaunched in 2024.

<i>Turrican</i> 1990 video game

Turrican is a 1990 video game developed by Manfred Trenz. It was developed for the Commodore 64 by Rainbow Arts, and was ported to other systems later. In addition to concept design and character creation, Trenz programmed Turrican on the Commodore 64. A sequel, Turrican II: The Final Fight, followed in 1991 for the Commodore 64 and other platforms.

Star Wars: Rogue Squadron is a series of Star Wars action video games jointly developed by LucasArts and Factor 5 and published by LucasArts for Nintendo consoles. Aspyr has expressed interest in bringing the series to the Nintendo Switch.

<i>Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader</i> 2001 video game

Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader is a flight action game co-developed by Factor 5 and LucasArts and is the second of the Rogue Squadron series. It was published by LucasArts and released as a launch title for the GameCube in North America on November 18, 2001, Europe on May 3, 2002, and Australia on May 17, 2002. Set in the fictional Star Wars galaxy, the game spans all three original trilogy Star Wars films. The player controls either Luke Skywalker or Wedge Antilles. As the game progresses, Skywalker, Antilles and the Rebel Alliance fight the Galactic Empire in ten missions across various planets.

<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>Super Star Wars</i> 1992 video game

Super Star Wars is a 1992 action video game developed by LucasArts and Sculptured Software for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is based on the 1977 film Star Wars. It was released by JVC Musical Industries in Japan and North America in 1992 and Europe in 1993. The game was followed by two sequels based on the subsequent Star Wars films, Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1993) and Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1994). The game was re-released in November 1996 as part of Nintendo's Player's Choice series. It was released on the Wii’s Virtual Console by LucasArts in 2009.

<i>Star Wars Episode I: Battle for Naboo</i> 2000 arcade-style action video game

Star Wars Episode I: Battle for Naboo is an arcade-style action game co-developed by Factor 5 and LucasArts. It is a spiritual successor to Star Wars: Rogue Squadron released two years earlier. Despite the similarities between the two games, the development team designed a new game engine for Battle for Naboo and included land- and water-based combat in addition to aerial combat. The player can control various air, land, and water vehicles; each offers a unique armament arrangement, as well as varying degrees of speed and maneuverability. Bonus power-ups that improve these crafts' weapons or durability are hidden in different levels throughout the game. The player's performance is checked against four medal benchmarks after the completion of each level. Acquiring these medals promotes the player's rank and helps unlock hidden content.

<i>Turrican II: The Final Fight</i> 1991 video game

Turrican II: The Final Fight is the second game of the Turrican series. The game, developed by Factor 5 was released in 1991 for the Commodore Amiga. This version was finished before the C64 version, but Manfred Trenz cites the C64 version as the original design. Turrican II was also released for the CDTV, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum, and later for DOS, and also for the Mega Drive/Genesis and Game Boy rebranded as Universal Soldier.

Nintendo Fusion Tour was a touring rock music and video game festival sponsored by Nintendo, which began in 2003.

<i>Star Wars: Rogue Squadron</i> 1998 video game

Star Wars: Rogue Squadron is an arcade-style flight action game co-developed by Factor 5 and LucasArts. The first of three games in the Rogue Squadron series, it was published by LucasArts and Nintendo and released for Microsoft Windows and Nintendo 64 in December 1998. The game's story was influenced by the Star Wars: X-wing – Rogue Squadron comics and is set in the fictional Star Wars galaxy, taking place primarily between events in the films Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. The player controls Luke Skywalker, commander of the elite X-wing pilots known as Rogue Squadron. As the game progresses, Skywalker and Rogue Squadron fight the Galactic Empire in 16 missions across various planets.

<i>Mega Turrican</i> 1993 video game

Mega Turrican is a run and gun video game, developed by Factor 5 in 1993 and marketed by Data East in 1994. Part of the Turrican series, it was designed for the Mega Drive/Genesis, and later followed by an Amiga port converted by Kaiko and Neon Studios under the title of Turrican 3: Payment Day. Despite not being the original, the Amiga version was the one that was first commercially released in 1993, published by Rainbow Arts in Germany and Renegade in the rest of Europe. The Mega Drive version did not have a publisher and stayed unreleased from spring 1993 until 1994, when Data East took over its worldwide distribution. Data East itself released the game in North America, and contracted Sony Imagesoft for the game's distribution in Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eutechnyx</span> Video game development studio

Eutechnyx Limited is a British video game developer based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Since 1997, the company has focused on racing games. They are known for their largely panned video game Ride to Hell: Retribution, work with the NASCAR The Game franchise, and as a developer on various other racing titles and games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hollywood (graphics chip)</span>

The Hollywood chipset, a key component of Nintendo's Wii video game console, is a system on a chip (SoC) that integrates a graphics processing unit (GPU), I/O interfaces, and audio capabilities. Designed by ATI, it was manufactured using a 90 nm or 65 nm CMOS process, similar to the Wii's central processing unit, Broadway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julian Eggebrecht</span> German video game businessman

Julian Eggebrecht is a German video game businessman. He is notable for having been one of the founding members and creative director of Factor 5, a German-American game development company.

<i>Super Turrican 2</i> 1995 video game

Super Turrican 2 is a 16-bit shooter game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, developed by Factor 5 and marketed by Ocean Software in 1995. Part of the Turrican series, it is the sequel to Super Turrican for the same platform.

The Code Monkeys Limited was a British video game developer based in Dewsbury, England, and founded in February 1988 by Colin Hogg, Mark Kirkby and Elliot Gay. It was known for porting video games to various platforms. In February 2011, shareholders of the company decided to wind down the company, which was effective two weeks later.

<i>Super Turrican</i> (1992 video game) 1992 video game

Super Turrican is a video game in the Turrican series for the NES released in 1992.

References

  1. ↑ "FACTOR 5". www.factor5.de.
  2. ↑ Thomas Engel. "Postmortem: Factor 5's Star Wars Rogue Leader: Rogue Squadron II". Gamasutra.
  3. 1 2 Tom Ivan. "Lair Dev Factor 5 Closes". Edge. Archived from the original on 23 March 2011.
  4. ↑ Matt Casamassina (14 May 2009). "Factor 5 Shuts Down". IGN.
  5. ↑ Leigh Alexander. "Factor 5 Germany Confirms U.S. Studio Closure". Gamasutra.
  6. ↑ "Factor 5 now completely dead | NeoGAF" . Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  7. ↑ "Factor 5 rises from the ashes, reacquires Turrican license, gives insight into Switch development". 15 March 2017.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Eggebrecht, Julian (23 February 1998). "Factor 5 Interview (Part I)" (Interview). Interviewed by Peer Schneider. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  9. ↑ Fahey, Mike (17 June 2009). "Ex-Factor 5 Employees Cry Fraud" . Retrieved 15 June 2009.
  10. ↑ TheLegacy Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine , Retrieved October 30, 2008.
  11. ↑ "Animal Wars [PS3 - Cancelled] - Unseen64". 10 November 2011.
  12. ↑ "The Lost Kid Icarus Wii Game - Unseen64". YouTube .
  13. ↑ "Pilotwings for Nintendo GameCube - Unseen64". YouTube .
  14. ↑ Nintendo Voice Chat Factor 5's Odyssey to Make Star Wars Games hwcdn.libsyn.com [ dead link ]
  15. ↑ "Superman (Factor 5) [X360/PS3 - Cancelled] - Unseen64". 9 March 2009.
  16. ↑ "Thornado [N64 - Prototype] - Unseen64". 8 April 2008.
  17. ↑ "Thornado [GameCube - Cancelled] - Unseen64". 8 April 2008.
  18. ↑ "Turrican: Cyclone (Factor 5) [PS3 - Cancelled] - Unseen64". 27 May 2009.
  19. ↑ "Virus [PS3 - Cancelled] - Unseen64". 4 April 2011.
  20. ↑ "Pilotwings' Lost Open World Reboot (Nintendo Wii) - Unseen64". YouTube .
  21. ↑ "Raising the Speech Factor". IGN. 27 January 1998. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
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.