Gremlin Interactive

Gremlin Interactive, to 1994 Gremlin Graphics Software, was a British development studio for Computer Games in Sheffield. It was taken over in 1999 by the French game publisher Infogrames and renamed to Infogrames Sheffield House.

Company History

The company was founded in 1984 by the British Ian Stewart and Kevin Norburn as Gremlin Graphics Software. The focus was initially on the development of games for 8- bit home computers such as the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, MSX, Commodore 16 and the Commodore 64 Early successes were the tracks Wanted: Monty Mole ( ZX Spectrum) and Thing on a Spring ( Commodore 64). 1988 founded some Gremlin employees, including founder Kevin Norburn, in Derby (Derbyshire ), the independent development studio Core Design.

Early 1990s could Gremlin great success with the series Zool, Premier Manager and Lotus celebrate. In 1994 the company was renamed Gremlin Interactive. Appeared in 1995 with Actua Soccer ( in Germany Ran Soccer), the first part of the series Actua Sports and the first football game in 3D graphics. In addition to two successors, the series was extended to the sports golf, tennis, ice hockey and pool table. Other successes allowed the company to celebrate with the futuristic racing game Motorhead, the action racing game Fatal Racing and Flight Simulation Hardwar.

1997 Gremlin acquired for 4.2 million British pounds, the developer DMA Design Studio ( Lemmings ), the car was working at this time to Grand Theft. However, the publication rights were already at Take 2 In December 1998, the company had to issue a profit warning, in consequence of the value of the company's shares fell off drastically. The company announced in January 1999, therefore, on the willingness of takeover talks. In March, the company was eventually acquired by Infogrames for 23 million British pounds or the equivalent of 40 million U.S. dollars. Founder Ian Stewart then left the company and founded the development studio Digital Zoo. Infogrames named Gremlin in Infogrames Sheffield House by DMA Design was sold for eleven million U.S. dollars to Take 2 and renamed by the new owners in Rockstar North. Once in June 2002 already numerous employees of Infogrames Sheffield House were released, the studio in 2003 by Infogrames was closed. Some employees then founded the studio Sumo Digital. Stewart earned 2003 33 Gremlin brands for which he published new titles on Zoo Digital in October.