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ISIN | FR0000050122 |
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Industry | Video games |
Founded | 1985 | (as Titus France SA)
Founders | Eric Caen, Hervé Caen |
Defunct | 2005 |
Fate | Bankruptcy and dissolution; assets now owned by Interplay Entertainment |
Headquarters | Lagny-sur-Marne, France |
Revenue | € 73.2 million (2002) |
Divisions | Digital Integration Ltd. BlueSky Software |
Subsidiaries | Titus Interactive Studio Titus Software Corporation Titus Japan K.K. Titus Software UK Limited PronostiX S.A. Sofra Jeux EyeOne A/S Interplay Europe Avalon Interactive Avalon France |
Website | www.titus-interactive.com (archived) |
Titus Interactive SA, [1] known as Titus France SA until March 1999, [2] [3] was a French software publisher that produced and published video games for various platforms. Its head office was located in Parc de l'Esplanade in Lagny sur Marne in Greater Paris. [1] At one time, it was instead located in Montfermeil, also in Greater Paris. [2]
The company's mascot was Titus, the title character of Titus the Fox .
The company was founded by brothers Eric Caen and Hervé Caen in France in 1985. [4]
In 1991, Titus purchased Palace Software, the gaming division of the Palace Group. [5]
In 1998, the company purchased the developers BlueSky Software [6] and Digital Integration Ltd.
In late 1999, the company acquired shares in struggling publisher Interplay Entertainment, including a stake in publisher/distributor Virgin Interactive.
Throughout the next few years, Titus signed North American distribution deals with smaller publishers. They signed a deal with Cryo Interactive in March 2000, [7] with Rage Software in September 2000, [8] and Microids in May 2001. [9] [10] In 2002, Titus Japan K.K. signed a similar distribution deal with Konami for Japan. [11]
In August 2000, they signed a deal with Viacom Consumer Products to publish games based on the Top Gun franchise. [12]
In August 2001, Titus took the control of Interplay. [13] However prior to this, Titus took over distributing their own titles in the North American market as well as Virgin's from them. [14]
In June 2004, Titus filed for bankruptcy, declaring an unseeable future for Interplay. [15] On January 9, 2005, a French district commercial court declared Titus bankrupt with a €33 million (US$43.8 million) debt. [16] [17] Titus' French subsidiaries were later closed down, while their assets were soon purchased by Interplay.
Titus began releasing titles for home computers such as the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, and IBM PC compatibles before moving on to consoles like the Master System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, and Game Boy Color, PlayStation, Dreamcast and Nintendo 64, followed by games for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox.
Titus designed games such as Virtual Kasparov , Automobili Lamborghini , Virtual Chess 64 , Roadsters (the Nintendo 64 version), Incredible Crisis (developed by Polygon Magic), Prehistorik Man and Lamborghini American Challenge , that were given positive reviews. Titus however was also involved in the creation of games that were notable due to their negative reception. Superman for the Nintendo 64 was notorious for its negative status among gamers. GameTrailers called it the worst game of all time. [18] As of 2018, it holds a score of 23% at GameRankings. [19] Similarly, the 2003 game RoboCop also received negative reviews. GameSpot gave it 2.2/10 saying "RoboCop has a bevy of horrible problems that render the game practically unplayable". [20]
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Titus had several subsidiaries. The United States subsidiary, Titus Software Corporation, had its head office in Chatsworth, Los Angeles. The Japanese subsidiary, Titus Japan K.K., had its head office on the eighth floor of the Kotubuki Dogenzaka Building in Dōgenzaka (JA), Shibuya, Tokyo. [1] The UK subsidiary, Titus Software UK Limited, had its head office in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. [21]
Interplay Entertainment Corp. is an American video game developer and publisher based in Los Angeles. The company was founded in 1983 as Interplay Productions by developers Brian Fargo, Jay Patel, Troy Worrell, and Rebecca Heineman, as well as investor Chris Wells. As a developer, Interplay is best known as the creator of the Fallout series and as a publisher for the Baldur's Gate and Descent series.
Ultra Software Corporation was a shell corporation and publishing label created in 1988 as a subsidiary of Konami of America, in an effort to get around Nintendo of America's strict licensing rules in place at the time for the North American market. One of these rules was that a third-party company could only publish up to five games per year for the Nintendo Entertainment System in the US.
The year 2002 in video games saw the release of many sequels and prequels in video games, such as Madden NFL 2003, NBA Live 2003, NBA 2K3, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth, Final Fantasy XI, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Jet Set Radio Future, Metroid Prime, Onimusha 2, Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, Pro Evolution Soccer 2, Resident Evil and Zero, Super Mario Sunshine,The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, along with new titles and franchises such as Battlefield, Dungeon Siege, Kingdom Hearts, Mafia, Ratchet & Clank, Sly Cooper, SOCOM, and Splinter Cell. The year's best-selling video game was Grand Theft Auto: Vice City for the PlayStation 2, while the year's most critically acclaimed titles were Metroid Prime and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker for the GameCube.
2003 saw many sequels and prequels in video games, such as Tony Hawk's Underground, Madden NFL 2004, NBA Live 2004, ESPN NBA Basketball, Saya no Uta: The Song of Saya, Final Fantasy X-2, Mario Kart: Double Dash, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Sonic Heroes, Postal 2, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Uru: Ages Beyond Myst, and WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain. New intellectual properties included Beyond Good & Evil, Boktai: The Sun is in Your Hand, Call of Duty, Disgaea, Drakengard, Manhunt, PlanetSide, TrackMania, True Crime: Streets of LA, and Viewtiful Joe.
Superman: The New Superman Adventures, commonly referred to as Superman 64, is an action-adventure video game developed and published by Titus Interactive for the Nintendo 64 and based on the television series Superman: The Animated Series. Released in North America on May 29, 1999, and in Europe on July 23, it is the first 3D Superman game.
Cryo Interactive Entertainment was a French video game development and publishing company founded in 1990, but existing unofficially since 1989 as a developer group under the name Cryo. The company gained recognition for its adventure games, such as the commercially successful titles Dune, Dragon Lore and Atlantis: The Lost Tales, along with the racing series MegaRace.
Avalon Interactive Group, Ltd. was a British video game distributor based within Europe that formerly traded as the video game publishing and distributing division of British conglomerate the Virgin Group.
DreamCatcher Interactive Inc. was a Canadian video game publisher founded in 1996 by Richard Wah Kan. It was best known for its adventure games. In 2006, the company became a subsidiary of JoWooD Entertainment. In 2011, the company went into administration along with its parent JoWooD and all assets were purchased by Nordic Games Holding. The DreamCatcher Interactive brand is currently being used as a publishing label for THQ Nordic.
Lamborghini American Challenge is a 1992 racing video game developed and published by Titus France for the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, Super NES, Amiga CD32, and Game Boy.
Microids is a French video game developer and publisher based in Paris. Founded in 1985 by Elliot Grassiano, it attained early success with games published through Loriciel in France and other partners in international markets. Through expanding its staff and development teams, Microïds generated funds to expand from just development to publishing and distribution and opening international offices. The company merged with MC2 in 2003 to create MC2-Microïds, whereafter it acquired publishers Wanadoo Edition and Cryo Interactive. Grassiano left MC2-Microïds in 2005; under new management, MC2-Microïds was briefly renamed MC2 before returning to the old Microïds name. It was then acquired by Anuman Interactive in 2010, which itself was renamed Microïds in 2019.
Automobili Lamborghini is a 1997 racing video game developed and published by Titus France for the Nintendo 64. It is a successor to Lamborghini American Challenge.
Prehistorik is a platform game developed by Titus Interactive for the Amiga, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC, MS-DOS, and Commodore CDTV. Titus Interactive also published it in 1991.
Virtual Chess 64 is a chess simulation game for the Nintendo 64. It was released in 1998. It is the third and final game in the Virtual Chess series. The game features no true "completion" in the form of a goal or a score, so one could theoretically play an endless number of matches. When a piece is captured, a short animated cutscene plays back depicting the battle, as in 1988's Battle Chess.
Prehistorik 2 is a platform game sequel to Prehistorik. It was developed by Titus Interactive for MS-DOS and Amstrad CPC and published in 1993. Like its predecessor, the main character of Prehistorik 2 is a caveman in a quest for food and who fights various animals and humorous end of level bosses.
Blues Brothers 2000 is a platform game for the Nintendo 64 console, released by Titus Interactive. The game is a platformer, loosely based on the band and the film. Due to major delays it was released two years after the film of the same name but in the year the film was set.
Prehistorik Man is a platforming video game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System developed by Titus Interactive and published by Kemco in Japan in 1995 as P-Man and by Titus France elsewhere in 1996. It is a sequel to Prehistorik 2, featuring similar graphics but a richer and different story, and additional non-player characters which, among other things, provide hints and a tutorial.
There have been seven video games based on The Addams Family television series and films, released between 1989 and 2022 on various home video game consoles.
Virgin PLAY S.A. was a Spanish video game distributor, and later a video game publisher.
RoboCop is a first-person shooter video game based on the RoboCop films. It was developed and published by French company Titus Interactive, which acquired the rights to produce RoboCop video games in 1999. After several schedule changes, the game was released in 2003 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, and Xbox, with the European versions distributed through Avalon Interactive. A GameCube version was released in Japan in 2004, under the title RoboCop: Aratanaru Kiki. According to Metacritic, the Xbox version, the only one to be released in North America, received "unfavorable" reviews.