Humongous Entertainment

Last updated

Humongous Entertainment, Inc.
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Video games
FoundedMarch 1992;32 years ago (1992-03) in Woodinville, Washington, US
Founder
DefunctAugust 22, 2005;19 years ago (2005-08-22)
FateClosed, assets sold
Headquarters
Bothell, Washington
,
US
Parent Atari, Inc. (1996–2005)
Website humongous.com

Humongous Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Bothell, Washington. Founded in 1992, the company developed multiple edutainment franchises, most prominently Putt-Putt , Freddi Fish , Pajama Sam , Spy Fox , and Backyard Sports , which, combined, sold over 15 million copies and earned more than 400 awards of excellence. [1]

Contents

Humongous Entertainment was acquired by GT Interactive (later renamed Infogrames, Inc., then Atari, Inc.) in July 1996. By October 2000, sales of Humongous games had surpassed 16 million copies. [2] GT sold the Humongous business to its parent company, Infogrames (later renamed Atari SA), in August 2005 and laid off the studio's employees. Infogrames held the assets under a new subsidiary, Humongous, Inc., until its bankruptcy in 2013, in which the assets were sold to Tommo, who re-released some of its games on digital distribution channels using the Humongous name.

History

Formation (1992–1996)

Humongous Entertainment was formed by Shelley Day and Ron Gilbert in March 1992, [3] then based in Woodinville, Washington. [4] The name Humongous Entertainment was suggested by Gilbert's ex-LucasArts colleague, Tim Schafer. [5] It became known for creating four point-and-click adventure game series intended for young children, branded collectively as "Junior Adventures", with the four series being the Putt-Putt , the Freddi Fish , the Pajama Sam and the Spy Fox series. Characters from one series do not cross over with ones in another (with the exception of Putt-Putt and Fatty Bear's Activity Pack) and instead appear as cameos or Easter eggs in any of the three other series. All of Humongous's games until 2003 were built on the SCUMM game engine, which Gilbert had developed for LucasArts years prior; following his departure from the company, LucasArts agreed to grant Humongous a license to use SCUMM for its games, on the condition that Gilbert continue to develop updates to the engine for both companies' use. [6] By 1995, the company had become the third largest children's educational-software company. [7]

In 1995, Gilbert and Day established a company division, Cavedog Entertainment, in Seattle, set to develop games of alternative genres, and released Total Annihilation , a real-time strategy (RTS) game, in 1997. This was followed by two expansion packs in 1998, as well as a variation called Total Annihilation: Kingdoms plus an expansion pack in 1999. [8]

Acquisitions, decline, dissolution (1996–2006)

In July 1996, Humongous Entertainment was purchased by GT Interactive for US$76 million. [9] In November 1997, Humongous Entertainment signed a five-year worldwide deal with Nickelodeon to develop games based on the Nick Jr. series, Blue's Clues , making it the first and only time that Humongous has developed games based on a licensed character as opposed to its original characters. [10] The same year, Humongous released their first Backyard Sports title, Backyard Baseball . Backyard Sports would go on to become the company's longest-running series. In November 1999, GT Interactive was acquired by Infogrames and renamed to Infogrames, Inc. In 2000, Humongous Entertainment released a One-Stop Fun Shop activity center game for each Junior Adventure series, with the exception of Spy Fox. [11] The co-founders tried to buy Humongous Entertainment back from Infogrames, Inc., using external funding, but the day of the planned purchase was the day of the dot-com collapse, wherefore the funding was pulled. The founders soon left Humongous, alongside many other key employees, and formed a new studio, Hulabee Entertainment, in 2001. In June 2001, Infogrames, Inc. laid off 82 personnel, over 40% of staff from Humongous Entertainment. [12] In May 2003, after Infogrames, Inc. purchased Hasbro Interactive, which owned the rights to the Atari brand, the company was renamed Atari, Inc.

In August 2005, facing financial struggles, Atari, Inc. sold the Humongous Entertainment business to Infogrames for shares worth US$10.3 million. As part of the deal, the assets were transferred to a new Infogrames subsidiary (Humongous, Inc.), while the employees of Humongous Entertainment were laid off. Infogrames expected to sell Humongous, Inc. further. Atari, Inc. signed an agreement with Humongous, Inc. to exclusively distribute the company's games in North America through March 2006. [13]

Post-closure asset handling (2006–present)

In October 2005, Infogrames announced plans to relaunch the Humongous brand, beginning with new entries in the Backyard Sports franchise and followed up with a business strategy for reviving characters from the Junior Adventure series. [14] Atari, Inc.'s distribution deal for Humongous titles was soon extended through March 2007. [15]

In April 2008, Infogrames purchased and merged with Atari, Inc. [16] [17] Following this merger, Infogrames Entertainment's company name was changed to Atari SA, who would go on to publish numerous more Backyard Sports titles. [18] In August, Majesco Entertainment published Wii ports of three Humongous titles: the first installments of each Junior Adventure series, except Putt-Putt. [19] [20] The ports were developed by Mistic Software, but their availability was greatly limited by a legal conflict concerning their development. [21] [1] In November of the same year, Humongous, Inc. released the Nintendo DS game Freddi Fish: ABC Under The Sea. [22]

Beginning in November 2011, in collaboration with Nimbus Games, Atari began releasing Android and iOS ports of several Humongous Entertainment Junior Adventure titles. [23] These releases continued into 2012. [24]

In 2013, Atari SA filed bankruptcy for Atari, Inc., Atari Interactive, and Humongous. As part of the resolution proceedings, the Humongous brand and most game assets were sold to Tommo on July 19. [25] The Backyard Sports series was acquired by The Evergreen Group, [26] and MoonBase Commander by Rebellion Developments. [27]

Beginning in 2014, the relaunched Humongous brand under Tommo began re-releasing the original Junior Adventure and Junior Arcade titles for Windows and Mac; ports for most of these titles were also released for mobile devices. [25] In early 2022, Humongous released Nintendo Switch ports of several of the Junior Adventure titles, followed by ports of these titles for the PlayStation 4 later that year. [28] [29] [30] A digital compilation of these releases, titled Humongous Classic Collection was released in December 2022 for both systems, while a Nintendo Switch exclusive physical compilation was released in 2023. [31] [32] [33]

Games developed

Related Research Articles

<i>Backyard Sports</i> Childrens sports video game series

Backyard Sports is a video game series released for consoles, computers, and mobile devices created by Humongous Entertainment. The series is best known for starring a diverse cast of fictional children as well as child versions of famous professional sports athletes, such as Albert Pujols, Paul Pierce, Barry Bonds, Tim Duncan, Clint Mathis, Kevin Garnett, Tom Brady, David Ortiz, Joe Thornton, and Andy Macdonald. The Backyard Sports series was previously licensed by the five major professional American sports leagues: Major League Baseball (MLB), Major League Soccer (MLS), the National Football League (NFL), the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the National Hockey League (NHL), as well as their affiliated players associations. The series has changed ownership and developers several times since Humongous's 2005 closure; it is currently owned by a dedicated company called Backyard Sports LLC, which bought the series' rights in 2021. Playground Productions is the series' current publisher, having rebooted the series in 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ScummVM</span> Set of game engine recreations

Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion Virtual Machine (ScummVM) is a set of game engine recreations. Originally designed to play LucasArts adventure games that use the SCUMM system, it also supports a variety of non-SCUMM games by companies like Revolution Software and Adventure Soft. It was originally written by Ludvig Strigeus. ScummVM is free software that is released under the terms of the GNU General Public License.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cavedog Entertainment</span> Defunct video game company

Cavedog Entertainment was a PC game developer and publisher based in Bothell, Washington. Founded in 1995 as a division of edutainment game developer Humongous Entertainment, Cavedog was known for the 1997 release of Total Annihilation—which won several accolades, such as multiple Game of the Year honors—considered one of the "greatest games of all time" in 2004 by GameSpot.

<i>Putt-Putt</i> (series) Video game series

Putt-Putt is a series of children's adventure and puzzle computer games created by Humongous Entertainment. This franchise was Humongous Entertainment's first game series to be developed. They primarily involve clicking to get to a destination, although some sub-quests and mini-games involve the keyboard. The main character, Putt-Putt, an anthropomorphic purple convertible, and his dog, Pep, travel to various locations.

<i>Backyard Football</i> Video games series

Backyard Football is a series of video games for various systems. The series was developed by Humongous Entertainment and published by Infogrames, Atari, and The Evergreen Group. It is one of several sub-series in the Backyard Sports franchise and is the first to feature professional players as kids, examples being Steve Young and Barry Sanders. The series currently has eleven titles.

<i>Spy Fox</i> Video game series

Spy Fox is a software gaming series from Humongous Entertainment starring a fictional anthropomorphic fox of the same name, intended for children 8 and up. The series follows the eponymous character, an anthropomorphic fox and secret agent tasked with stopping global crises. Many of the game's names and plot elements are spoofs of the James Bond and Get Smart series.

<i>Pajama Sam</i> Video game series

The Pajama Sam series is a collection of point and click children's adventure and puzzle games originally created by Humongous Entertainment. Pamela Adlon voices the title character in all games, excluding the first spin-off game and the final entry.

<i>Freddi Fish</i> Video game series

Freddi Fish is a series of point and click games from Humongous Entertainment. The series began in 1994. Freddi Fish is an anthropomorphic yellow fish who takes on detective investigations throughout the series. Her best friend, a green fish named Luther, goes with her on all her adventures. The voice of Freddi Fish was performed by Annette Toutonghi and the voice of Luther was performed by Mike McAuliffe at Bad Animals Studio in Seattle, Washington. The series sold more than 2.5 million copies and won over 75 awards of excellence. In each game there are multiple different possible sets of quests one has to complete in order to complete the game, depending on the playthrough.

<i>Freddi Fish 2: The Case of the Haunted Schoolhouse</i> 1996 video game

Freddi Fish 2: The Case of the Haunted Schoolhouse is a 1996 video game and the second of five adventure games in the Freddi Fish series of games developed and published by Humongous Entertainment. It was released on iOS under the title Freddi Fish Haunted Schoolhouse Mystery and on Android with a shortened title Freddi Fish: Haunted Schoolhouse in 2014. It was also released on the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 in May 2024.

<i>Freddi Fish 3: The Case of the Stolen Conch Shell</i> 1998 video game

Freddi Fish 3: The Case of the Stolen Conch Shell is a 1998 video game and the third of five adventure games in the Freddi Fish series of games developed and published by Humongous Entertainment. An iOS version was released with a shortened title Freddi Fish & the Stolen Shell, and also released with a "Lite" demo version that featured subtitles and text boxes in the gameplay. It was considered one of Atari's capital projects available on its website and on the App Store. A Nintendo Switch version along with Putt-Putt Travels Through Time was released in January 2022, followed by the PlayStation 4 version on the PlayStation Store in November.

<i>Freddi Fish 5: The Case of the Creature of Coral Cove</i> 2001 video game

Freddi Fish 5: The Case of the Creature of Coral Cove is a 2001 video game and the fifth and final game in the Freddi Fish series of adventure games. It was developed by Humongous Entertainment and published by Infogrames.

<i>Spy Fox in "Dry Cereal"</i> 1997 video game

Spy Fox in "Dry Cereal" is an adventure game developed and published by Humongous Entertainment, part of their "Junior Adventure" line and the first entry in the Spy Fox series of games. The game follows the heroic Spy Fox as he attempts to stop a supervillain from stealing the world's dairy milk supply. The game was released for computers in October 1997 to positive reception and was ported to several other systems over the following decades.

<i>Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo</i> 1995 video game

Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo is a 1995 video game and the third of seven adventure games in the Putt-Putt series of games developed and published by Humongous Entertainment. The animation style also changed with this game to hand-drawn animation, in contrast to the pixel art graphics of the previous two games, following the studio's jump from DOS to Windows with Freddi Fish and the Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds the previous year. The game was reissued on April 19, 1999. In November 2011, the game became the first Humongous Entertainment game to be rereleased for iOS and Google Play. Developed by Nimbus Games Inc., the iOS version of this game released by Atari was discontinued. A Nintendo Switch version was released in February 2022, followed by the PlayStation 4 version on the PlayStation Store in November the same year.

Atari, Inc. is an American video gaming company based in New York City, and a subsidiary of the Atari SA holding company. It is the main entity serving the commercial Atari brand globally since 2003. The company currently publishes games based on retro Atari franchises as well as some new content, and also produces the new Atari 2600+ console. In the past it produced titles including Neverwinter Nights, Driver 3, Fahrenheit, RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 and Test Drive Unlimited.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tommo</span> American video game publisher

Tommo Inc. is an American video game publisher based in City of Industry, California. Founded in 1990, Tommo started out as a small independent distributor of imported video games. Since 2006, Tommo also operates a publishing subsidiary, UFO Interactive Games, which is best known for publishing original games, such as several titles in the Raiden series.

<i>Putt-Putt Enters the Race</i> 1999 video game

Putt-Putt Enters the Race is an educational adventure game developed and published by Humongous Entertainment on January 1, 1999. The game is the fifth entry in the Putt-Putt series.

Atari SA, also known under the Atari Group moniker, is a French holding company headquartered in Paris that owns mainly video gaming-related interactive entertainment properties. Atari SA's core subsidiaries include the publisher and marketer Atari, Inc., developers Nightdive Studios and Digital Eclipse, and publisher Infogrames, It also has a blockchain division, Atari X, and additionally owns the websites MobyGames and AtariAge. Through these divisions, the company owns the rights to many video game properties that originated from Accolade, Atari, Inc., Atari Corporation, GT Interactive, M Network, Intellivision and others. It is the sole owner of the Atari brand since 2001, through its subsidiary Atari Interactive Inc. which licenses the brand to other entities in the group.

<i>Freddi Fish and the Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds</i> 1994 video game

Freddi Fish and the Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds is a video game developed and published by Humongous Entertainment and the first game released for the Freddi Fish franchise. It was released on November 7, 1994. In 2008, it was released on the Wii under the title Freddi Fish in Kelp Seed Mystery as well as Windows and Macintosh, and on Android with a shortened title Freddi Fish and the Missing Kelp Seeds. The Wii version's availability was limited by legal problems concerning its development. A spin-off handheld LCD game titled Freddi Fish: Jellyfish Jamboree was also released in 1999 that was based on a minigame from Kelp Seeds. Ports for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 were released in February 2024.

<i>Putt-Putt Travels Through Time</i> 1997 video game

Putt-Putt Travels Through Time is a 1997 video game and the fourth of seven adventure games in the Putt-Putt series of games developed and published by Humongous Entertainment. In 2014 Night Dive Studios re-released the iOS, Linux and Steam versions. In 2022, a port was released on the Nintendo Switch in January, as one of the first Humongous Entertainment games to be released on the system alongside Freddi Fish 3: The Case of the Stolen Conch Shell, followed by a PlayStation 4 version in November.

References

  1. 1 2 "Majesco Brings Humongous' Best-Selling Children's Properties to Wii". GameZone. March 25, 2008. Archived from the original on January 17, 2016. Retrieved June 6, 2015.
  2. ↑ Kubin, Jacquie (October 1, 2000). "There's Humongous Rewards in Edutaining Little Kids". Animation World Network . Archived from the original on October 12, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Humongous Entertainment Fast Facts". Humongous Entertainment. August 26, 1997. Archived from the original on February 10, 1998.
  4. ↑ "Humongous Entertainment's Child's Play Develops Maturity". Los Angeles Times . September 15, 1997. Archived from the original on September 25, 2021. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
  5. ↑ Dave Grossman (June 19, 2009). "Q&A With the Team". Telltale Games . Archived from the original on May 18, 2022. Retrieved February 19, 2021. True fact: It was Tim Schafer who suggested the name "Humongous Entertainment".
  6. ↑ "Interview with Ron Gilbert". Nightdive Studios. June 22, 2014. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
  7. ↑ Robert Sorbo. "Cyber Elite - Shelley Day". Archived from the original on April 9, 2009. Retrieved September 4, 2016.
  8. ↑ "Cavedog Entertainment". December 12, 1998. Archived from the original on August 8, 2003. Retrieved April 23, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Company News; GT Interactive acquires Humongous Entertainment". New York Times . July 11, 1996. Archived from the original on September 25, 2021. Retrieved January 4, 2017.
  10. ↑ "Nickelodeon and Humongous Entertainment Ink Exclusive Five-Year Worldwide Deal To Create CD-ROMs for Blue's Clues, Nick Jr.'s Top-Rated Preschool TV Show". Humongous Entertainment and Nickelodeon. November 6, 1997. Archived from the original on October 31, 2000. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  11. ↑ "Humongous Entertainment's One-Stop Fun Shops". May 4, 2012. Archived from the original on November 18, 2017. Retrieved June 10, 2017.
  12. ↑ "Humongous cuts 40% of its staff". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. June 15, 2001. Archived from the original on August 14, 2017. Retrieved October 9, 2006.
  13. ↑ "Atari Sells Humongous to Infogrames for $10.3 Million". Business Week. August 28, 2005. Archived from the original on September 23, 2018. Retrieved January 27, 2014.
  14. ↑ "Infogrames Announces Relaunch for Humongous Brand".
  15. ↑ "Form 10-K". Atari, Inc. June 29, 2006. Retrieved December 4, 2023– via Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval.
  16. ↑ Infogrames Entertainment S.A. and Atari, Inc. Announce Agreement to Merge: Financial News Yahoo! Finance Archived May 27, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  17. ↑ "Atari GB". Corporate.infogrames.com. October 9, 2008. Archived from the original on February 19, 2009. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  18. ↑ "Infogrames Entertainment Fiscal Year 2008/2009 Earnings" (PDF). Infogrames. May 29, 2009. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 3, 2023. Retrieved January 3, 2023.
  19. ↑ "Majesco Entertainment and Interactive Game Group Bring Humongous' Best-Selling Children's Properties to Wii in the U.S." March 26, 2008. Archived from the original on December 27, 2021. Retrieved December 27, 2021.
  20. ↑ "TWiG 2008-08-25: A Week with the Shovel, PopMatters". www.popmatters.com. August 24, 2008. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
  21. ↑ Moss, Richard (January 16, 2012). "Maniac Tentacle Mindbenders: How ScummVM's unpaid coders kept adventure gaming alive". Ars Technica . Archived from the original on February 23, 2016. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  22. ↑ "Freddi Fish: ABC Under The Sea - Nintendo DS - GameSpy". ds.gamespy.com. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
  23. ↑ Atari. "Atari Brings Award Winning HUMONGOUS Kids Edutainment Games to iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch for the First Time". www.prnewswire.com (Press release). Retrieved January 17, 2024.
  24. ↑ "Nimbus Games to bring their newest title, Spy Fox in Dry Cereal, to Android". Droid Gamers. May 16, 2012. Retrieved January 17, 2024.
  25. 1 2 Clark, Nicole (May 9, 2019). "From 'Putt Putt' to 'Freddi Fish'—How Humongous Entertainment Made Edutainment Fun". Vice. Retrieved January 8, 2024.
  26. ↑ "The Evergreen Group Has Agreed to Acquire Backyard Sports Video Game Franchise". Business Week. July 24, 2013. Archived from the original on February 8, 2014. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
  27. ↑ "Wargaming, Rebellion and Stardock all bid on Atari assets". Gamasutra. July 22, 2013. Archived from the original on January 6, 2014. Retrieved January 27, 2014.
  28. ↑ Humongous [@HumongousEnt] (February 3, 2022). "Get your adventure on with four of the best games you've ever played, arriving for #NintendoSwitch on February 10th" (Tweet). Retrieved February 10, 2022– via Twitter.
  29. ↑ Humongous [@HumongousEnt] (December 27, 2021). "Freddi Fish 3 and Putt-Putt Travels Through Time on January 3rd, 2022!" (Tweet). Retrieved January 4, 2022– via Twitter.
  30. ↑ "Once trapped in fragile plastic diskettes..." Twitter. November 2, 2022.
  31. ↑ "Humongous Classic Collection". store.playstation.com. Retrieved January 8, 2024.
  32. ↑ "Amazon.com: Humongous Classic Collection - Nintendo Switch: Video Games". www.amazon.com. Archived from the original on January 9, 2023. Retrieved January 9, 2023.
  33. ↑ "Humongous Classic Collection for Nintendo Switch - Nintendo Official Site". www.nintendo.com. Retrieved January 8, 2024.
  34. ↑ "Humongous Entertainment Brings a New Perspective to Children's Software; Putt-Putt's Newest Junior Adventure™ Puts Kids in the Driver's Seat Putt-Putt Enters the Race™ Hits Retail Stores This Week; Humongous.com Kicks off Online Launch Party for Putt-Putt on January 14" (Press release). Humongous Entertainment. January 5, 1999. Archived from the original on October 2, 1999.
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