Personal Software Services

Last updated

Personal Software Services (PSS) was a British software company based in Coventry, founded by Gary Mays and Richard Cockayne in 1981. [1] The company was acquired by Mirrorsoft in 1987. [2] PSS produced video games for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari ST, Atari 8-bit family, Amstrad CPC, Oric and IBM PC compatibles.

Contents

PSS was known for strategic wargames, such as Theatre Europe and Falklands '82 . Several games produced by the French company ERE Informatique were distributed in Britain by PSS, including Get Dexter .

History

Personal Software Services was founded in Coventry, England, by Gary Mays and Richard Cockayne in 1981. [3] The company had a partnership with French video game developer ERE Informatique, and published localised versions of their products to the United Kingdom. [4] The Wargamers series was conceptualised by software designer Alan Steel in 1984. During development of these titles, Steel would often research the topic of the upcoming game and pass on the findings to other associates in Coventry and London. [5] Some games of the series were met with controversy upon release, such as Theatre Europe. [3] [5] In 1983, the company received recognition for being "one of the top software houses" in the United Kingdom, and was a finalist for BBC Radio 4's New Business Enterprise Award for that year. [6]

In 1988, Cockayne took a decision to alter their products for release on 16-bit consoles, as he found that smaller 8-bit home computers such as the ZX Spectrum lacked the processing power for larger strategy games. Cockayne claimed that PSS were not pulling out of the 8-bit market, [7] but no more 8-bit games were released post-1988.

Following years of successful sales throughout the mid 1980s, Personal Software Services experienced financial difficulties, in which Cockayne admitted that "he took his eye off the ball." The company was acquired by Mirrorsoft in February 1987, [8] and was later dispossessed by the company due to strains of debt. [9]

Games

After Mirrorsoft acquisition

Related Research Articles

Andrew Nicholas Oliver and Philip Edward Oliver, together known as the Oliver Twins, are British twin brothers and video game designers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beam Software</span> Former Australian video game developer

Krome Studios Melbourne, originally Beam Software, was an Australian video game development studio founded in 1980 by Alfred Milgrom and Naomi Besen and based in Melbourne, Australia. Initially formed to produce books and software to be published by Melbourne House, a company they had established in London in 1977, the studio operated independently from 1987 until 1999, when it was acquired by Infogrames, who changed the name to Infogrames Melbourne House Pty Ltd.. In 2006 the studio was sold to Krome Studios.

ERE Informatique was one of the first French video game companies, founded in 1983 by Emmanuel Viau, joined a year later by Philippe Ulrich. The company hired freelance game programmers that received royalties for their creations.

Novagen Software Ltd was a British software developer which released a number of computer games on a variety of platforms from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s.

Ocean Software Ltd was a British software development company that became one of the biggest European video game developers and publishers of the 1980s and 1990s.

<i>Theatre Europe</i> 1986 video game

Theatre Europe is a turn-based strategy video game developed and published by Personal Software Services (PSS). It was first released in the United Kingdom for the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and Atari 8-bit family home computers in 1985. It was later released in France by ERE Informatique in 1986, and was released in the United States by Datasoft later that year. A port for the Tatung Einstein was released in 1989, in the UK. It is the fifth installment of the Strategic Wargames series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Durell Software</span> Software companies of the United Kingdom

Durell Software is a software developer based in Taunton, Somerset in the United Kingdom. The company is a provider of back office administration and accounting software to independent financial advisers, mortgage brokers, and general insurance brokers. Durell was formerly a successful video games developer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tynesoft</span> Former software developer and publisher

Tynesoft Computer Software was a software developer and publisher in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Vortex Software was a video game developer founded by Costa Panayi and Paul Canter in the early 1980s to sell the game Cosmos which Panayi had developed for the Sinclair ZX81. They converted the game to the ZX Spectrum, but due to the low sales of the ZX81 version they licensed the game to Abbex.

Pete Cooke is a British computer games programmer, best known for his work published in the 1980s for the ZX Spectrum.

Mirrorsoft was a British video game publisher founded by Jim Mackonochie as a division of Mirror Group Newspapers. The company was active between 1983 and 1991, and shut down completely in early 1992.

Crystal Computing, later renamed Design Design, was a British video game developer founded in 1982 by Chris Clarke and Ian Stamp while students at the University of Manchester. Graham Stafford, Neil Mottershead, Simon Brattel and Martin Horsley, joined the company as it expanded. The company's first software release was a compilation of games for the Sinclair ZX81, though it was with the ZX Spectrum that Crystal found its greatest success. A deal with the machine's manufacturer Sinclair to distribute Crystal's Zeus Assembler gave the company sufficient funds for a major marketing campaign for their next product, Halls of the Things, an arcade adventure game that became their most successful title.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Image Works</span>

Image Works was a British video game publisher that served as a publishing label for Mirrorsoft between 1988 and 1992, when the parent company went bankrupt.

Alligata Software Ltd. was a computer games developer and publisher based in Sheffield in the UK in the 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electric Dreams Software</span> Former video game publisher

Electric Dreams Software was a UK-based video game publisher established in 1985 by Activision and run by Rod Cousens and Paul Cooper formerly of Quicksilva. The company published video games for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC and the Atari 8-bit family of computers between 1985 and 1989, becoming one of the top eight UK software houses by 1987.

Atlantis Software was a London-based UK computer games publisher that released a number of games during the 1980s and early 1990s.

Addictive Games was a UK video game publisher in the 1980s and early 1990s. It is best known for the Football Manager series of games created by company founder Kevin Toms. The company was originally based in Milton Keynes, England, and later relocated to Bournemouth, in southern England.

The English Software Company, later shortened to English Software, was a Manchester, UK-based video game developer and publisher that operated from 1982 until 1987. Starting with its first release, the horizontally scrolling shooter Airstrike, English Software focused on the Atari 8-bit family of home computers, then later expanded onto other platforms. The company used the slogan "The power of excitement".

<i>Falklands 82</i> 1986 video game

Falklands '82 is a 1986 turn-based strategy video game developed and published by Personal Software Services for the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64. It is the fifth instalment of the Strategic Wargames series. The game is set during the 1982 Falklands War and revolves around the Argentine occupation and subsequent British re-capture of the Falkland Islands. The player controls the British Task Force as they must either defeat all Argentine forces on the archipelago or re-capture every settlement.

References

  1. ↑ Unrelated to the 1989 DOS game Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
  1. ↑ Your Computer, June 1986, p. 84
  2. ↑ The Independent, 25 March 1995, "Taking pain out of gain"
  3. 1 2 "History of PSS". Your Computer. 6 (6): 84–85. 13 June 1986. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  4. ↑ "Personal Software Services overview". Retro Aisle. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  5. 1 2 Connor, Peter (March 1986). "Special: PSS". Amstrad Action (6): 97–99. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  6. ↑ "PSS: Blade Alley Competition". Crash (5): 28. June 1984. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  7. ↑ Jarratt, Steve (May 1988). "Seasonal Drought". Crash (52): 7. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  8. ↑ "Mirrorsoft has new strategy with PSS". Personal Computing Weekly. 6 (7): 6. 12 February 1987. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  9. ↑ Arnot, Chris (26 March 1995). "Taking pain out of gain" . The Independent. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  10. ↑ "CRASH 3 - Grid Games".
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.