On December 1, 2016, Majesco Entertainment was acquired by PolarityTE, Inc., a biotech company, in another reverse merger takeover, because of which it formally ceased all video game operations on December 8, 2016. In mid-2017, chief executive officer Jesse Sutton re-acquired the company through a management buyout and continued operating it privately held. On January 15, 2018, Liquid Media Group announced the acquisition of Majesco.[3]
History
Majesco was first known as a reissuer of old titles that had been abandoned by their original publisher. By cutting the prices and eventually arranging the rights to self-manufacture games for both Nintendo and Sega systems, the company found a sustainable market niche.[citation needed]
Later, Majesco arranged with Sega to manufacture a version of its Genesis (known as Mega Drive outside North America) 16-bit console, which had been superseded by the 32-bit Saturn. It released this in 1998 as the Genesis 3 and followed up with a version of the handheld Game Gear called the Game Gear Core System. In 1998, it signed a deal with Hasbro Interactive to publish their titles for the 8-bit handheld and 16-bit console formats, notably the Game Boy Color.[4]
The company's focus shifted to in-house game development, initially under the brand Pipe-Dream Interactive since few believed they could make the transition successfully. It was originally by two lead producers who were employees of Morning Star Multimedia, Dan Kitchen and Kevin Mitchell.[5] Majesco had a licensing agreement with publisher Red Storm Entertainment to bring Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six to the Sega Dreamcast platform in 1999.[6] Pipe Dream Interactive, a Majesco subsidiary would eventually produce their titles for Hasbro Interactive on the Game Boy Color and the Sega Dreamcast in 2000, most notably Q*Bert.[7][8] In 2000, Majesco had a licensing agreement with Activision to publish ports of their classic titles for various platforms, most notably the PlayStation 2 and the Game Boy Advance.[9][10][11] The following year, Majesco had signed an agreement with THQ to bring its vast catalog for the Game Boy Advance for the European market,[12] and the following year, had an agreement with Codemasters to publish two titles for PlayStation 2.[13]
Majesco focused on developing for console systems, such as GameCube, Game Boy Advance, Xbox, and PlayStation 2. A few of the titles it released, involving popular characters, included a few Bomberman titles for the GameCube and Game Boy Advance. Majesco also published computer games with Terminal Reality as the developer, such as BloodRayne and BloodRayne 2.
In 2003, Majesco was slated to publish Black 9, but producers forced the developers, Taldren, Inc., to shut down when the game was about 85% complete.[14][15] The publisher had reached financial trouble with its larger-budget games, such as Psychonauts, which sold poorly although receiving several awards and critical acclaim, and Advent Rising, which generated intense hype but was ultimately panned by critics for being released prematurely and without adequate bug testing. Around this time, the company's best-selling titles in the last few years was the series of GBA Videos for the Game Boy Advance. It also published the game Jaws Unleashed.
On January 19, 2006, the company's financial situation worsened to the degree that it had to cancel two games it was going to publish: Demonik, developed by Terminal Reality, and Taxi Driver, a sequel to the 1976 film of the same name. Majesco's president, Jesse Sutton, said that in the future the company would "focus primarily on publishing value and handheld video games."[16] Since that announcement, the company has followed through with publishing successful budget titles in North America like Cooking Mama for the Nintendo DS.
On September 14, 2006, Majesco released Advent Rising and re-released BloodRayne and BloodRayne 2 on Steam. On November 6, 2007, Majesco announced the opening of a new development facility in the Los Angeles area dedicated to the development of casual game products and properties.[17] On December 10, 2007, Majesco announced that they would be publishing a rhythm-based game, Major Minor's Majestic March, exclusively for the Wii developed by NanaOn-Sha. Majesco has announced that it will be launching an internet version of Bananagrams on August 18, 2008, that will be available on Facebook, a social networking website.[18] On November 4, 2009, Majesco released BloodRayne and BloodRayne 2 on GOG.com. On June 6, 2011, Majesco announced that it was acquiring the assets of social game developer Quick Hit and Quick Hit Football to build out its social gaming strategy.[19]
After a disastrous fiscal year of 2013, the company was expected to enjoy a recovering growth in 2014.[20] It has an online casino gambling subsidiary GMS Entertainment.[21] However, this proved incorrect, as they continued to lose large amounts of money in 2014, resulting in the closure of Midnight City and the cancellation of the console port of Gone Home.[22]
On August 12, 2015, Majesco announced that they had appointed a new CEO, and that only five employees would remain in the company. The company's focus also shifted to develop mobile and downloadable titles. Two new titles, Glue and a new installment in the A Boy and His Blob franchise, were announced after the reconstruction.[23]
On December 9, 2016, Majesco announced it was ceasing operations in the entertainment industry, and merged with biotech firm PolarityTE. Polarity will obtain Majesco's NASDAQ symbol name, COOL.[24][25] On June 29, 2017, PolarityTE divested itself entirely of and subsequently sold, Majesco Entertainment's assets, which were subsequently taken private, leading to the rebirth of the company as an independent corporation.[26]
On November 9, 2017, Majesco announced that it had re-entered the video game business after having previously been brought back to a privately held company, releasing their Romans from Mars onto Steam.[27] On January 15, 2018, 51 percent of Majesco was bought by Liquid Media Group, and Jesse Sutton became LMG's Gaming Advisor.[3]
On June 15, 2020, Ziggurat Interactive purchased a number of IP formerly owned by Majesco Entertainment, including the rights to BloodRayne, Advent Rising, Flip's Twisted World, and Raze's Hell. On the same day, Ziggurat announced that the PC release of BloodRayne would receive updates to improve compatibility with current-day systems, with updates done by original developer Terminal Reality. They also announced plans to continue the franchise.[28]
Subsidiary
Midnight City: On August 29, 2013, Majesco announced the creation of an indie publishing label, Midnight City, in order to bring various indie games to consoles.[29]
A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia is a puzzle-platform game developed by Imagineering and published by Absolute Entertainment for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The video game was released in North America in 1989, in Europe by Nintendo in 1991 and in Japan by Jaleco in 1991. A Boy and His Blob follows an unnamed male protagonist and his shapeshifting blob friend on their adventure to save the planet of Blobolonia from the clutches of an evil emperor.
Action Replay is the brand name of a cheating device created by Datel. The Action Replay is available for many gaming systems including the Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 2, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, and the Xbox. The name is derived from the first devices’ signature ability to pause the execution of the software and save the computer's state to disk or tape for future “replay”. The ability to manipulate the contents of memory in this paused state permitted the cheat functions for which the brand is now better known.
Game Boy Advance Video is a format for putting full color, full-motion videos onto Game Boy Advance ROM cartridges. These videos are playable using the Game Boy Advance system's screen and sound hardware. They were all published by Majesco Entertainment, except for the Pokémon Game Boy Advance Video cartridges, which were published by Nintendo. Most cartridges were developed by DC Studios, Inc., except for the few labelled "Movie Pak" which were developed by 4Kids Entertainment's subsidiary 4Kids Technology, Inc. The video cartridges are colored white for easy identification and are sold as Game Boy Advance Video Paks; these offer the same 240×160 resolution as standard Game Boy Advance games, except for the Shrek and Shark Tale pack, which is at 112p.
The Virtual Console is a defunct line of downloadable retro games for Nintendo's Wii and Wii U home video game consoles and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems.
WayForward Technologies, Inc. is an American independent video game developer and publisher based in Valencia, California. Founded in March 1990 by technology entrepreneur Voldi Way, WayForward started by developing games for consoles such as the Super NES and Sega Genesis, as well as TV games and PC educational software. In 1997, they relaunched their video games arm, placing the company as a contractor for publishers and working on a variety of licensed assets.
Cars is a 2006 adventure racing game published by THQ. The game is based on the 2006 film of the same name. It was released for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox, Microsoft Windows, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, and PlayStation Portable in June 2006, with versions for the Xbox 360 and Wii released later that year. The Wii version includes functionality geared towards its Wii Remote controller and was a launch game for the system. Taking place after the events of the film, the game follows Lightning McQueen as he participates in the new racing season with his goal set on finally winning the Piston Cup. While doing so, he races and trains with the local community of Radiator Springs.
TMNT is an action video game featuring the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It was developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft for Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 2, GameCube, Nintendo DS, and PlayStation Portable, as well as for Microsoft Windows on March 20, 2007. It is based on the 2007 film of the same name.
The seventh generation of home video game consoles began on November 22, 2005, with the release of Microsoft's Xbox 360 home console. This was followed by the release of Sony's PlayStation 3 on November 17, 2006, and Nintendo's Wii on November 19, 2006. Each new console introduced new technologies. The Xbox 360 offered games rendered natively at high-definition video (HD) resolutions, the PlayStation 3 offered HD movie playback via a built-in 3D Blu-ray Disc player, and the Wii focused on integrating controllers with movement sensors as well as joysticks. Some Wii controllers could be moved about to control in-game actions, which enabled players to simulate real-world actions through movement during gameplay. By this generation, video game consoles had become an important part of the global IT infrastructure; it is estimated that video game consoles represented 25% of the world's general-purpose computational power in 2007.
The Japanese multinational consumer electronics company Nintendo has developed seven home video game consoles and multiple portable consoles for use with external media, as well as dedicated consoles and other hardware for their consoles. As of September 30, 2021, in addition to Nintendo Switch, Nintendo has sold over 863.07 million hardware units.
The eighth generation of video game consoles began in 2012, and consists of four home video game consoles: the Wii U released in 2012, the PlayStation 4 family in 2013, the Xbox One family in 2013, and the Nintendo Switch family in 2017.
Young Justice: Legacy is an action-adventure video game developed by Freedom Factory Studios and published by Little Orbit. It was released in November 2013 for Nintendo 3DS, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. The game is based on the Young Justice animated television series, and takes place in the five-year gap between seasons one and two, and was developed in collaboration with the writers of the series, Greg Weisman and Brandon Vietti. Originally the game was planned to also be released on Nintendo DS, Wii, and Wii U, but the developers announced that these versions were cancelled due to quality issues and low interest from retailers.
↑ Staff, IGN (July 28, 1999), Majesco Launches Pipe Dream - IGN, Updated: 21 Jun 2012 5:23 pm, Posted: 28 Jul 1999 12:00 am, archived from the original on November 17, 2021, retrieved November 17, 2021
↑ Staff, IGN (June 2, 1999), Rainbow Six Headed to Dreamcast - IGN, Updated: 21 Jun 2012 6:47 pm, Posted: 2 Jun 1999 12:00 am, archived from the original on November 17, 2021, retrieved November 17, 2021
↑ Harris, Craig (September 29, 2000), Q*Bert - IGN, Updated: 13 Dec 2018 3:27 am, Posted: 29 Sep 2000 12:00 am, archived from the original on November 17, 2021, retrieved November 17, 2021
↑ Staff, IGN (December 19, 2000), Q*bert - IGN, Updated: 13 Dec 2018 3:41 am, Posted: 19 Dec 2000 12:30 am, archived from the original on November 17, 2021, retrieved November 17, 2021
↑ Staff, IGN (March 22, 2001), Hands-on with Majesco's GBA Line-Up - IGN, Updated: 21 Jun 2012 9:38 am, Posted: 22 Mar 2001 12:30 am, archived from the original on November 17, 2021, retrieved November 17, 2021
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