Psygnosis Limited
Moby ID: 63
- Robert Smith & Sons (Engineers Birkenhead) Limited (from 1972-01-21 to 1985-07-03)
Overview edit · view history
Psygnosis was a British video game developer and publisher. The company was founded in Liverpool in 1984 from the ashes of Imagine, and initially developed games (mostly in the action genre) for Amiga and Atari ST.
After their initial success with their early games, such as Brataccas, Psygnosis' biggest hit came with Lemmings, released in 1991 and spawned many sequels. This success led to the acquisition of the company by Sony Corporation on May 23, 1993.
After the acquisition, in early 1995, Psygnosis retreated from the Amiga market, and just after several months, in September 1995, Psygnosis released WipeOut. WipeOut was Psygnosis' second biggest hit, after Lemmings. Like Lemmings, WipeOut has spawned many sequels.
Just after WipeOut was released, in late 1995, Psygnosis abandoned development on 16-bit platforms, leaving some games, like the Genesis port of Bill's Tomato Game, unreleased.
Psygnosis also operated two labels: Psyclapse and Sizzlers. Psyclapse was a publishing label, and Sizzlers was a budget label, responsible for re-releasing old Psygnosis games. Both labels disappeared in the early 90's. The last of its subsidiaries was a studio, called Wheelhaus, closed in 1999-2000.
In late 1998, Eidos Interactive bought Psygnosis' European operations. Psygnosis' US operations were folded into Sony's own development outfit, 989 Studios. Finally, in 2000, Psygnosis (as a Sony brand) abandoned the PC game market for good, with all games that in development at the time were either cancelled, moved to PlayStation, or licensed to different publishers. All US studios closed. The UK studios were absorbed by SCEE, renamed SCE Studio Liverpool and became part of the SCE Worldwide Studios. The last game released under Psygnosis name and logo was Team Buddies, developed by SCEE Camden Studio.
Credited on 185 Games from 1986 to 2000
Displaying most recent · View all
| Rollcage Stage II (2000 on Windows, PlayStation) |
| WipEout 3: Special Edition (2000 on PlayStation) |
| Destruction Derby: Raw (2000 on PlayStation) |
| Metal Fatigue (2000 on Windows) |
| Lemmings Revolution (2000 on Windows) |
| Wings of Destiny (2000 on Windows) |
| Colony Wars III: Red Sun (2000 on PlayStation) |
| Formula One 2000 (2000 on Game Boy Color) |
| Nations: WWII Fighter Command (1999 on Windows) |
| Formula One 99 (1999 on Windows, PlayStation) |
| Panzer Elite (1999 on Windows) |
| G-Police: Weapons of Justice (1999 on PlayStation) |
| Expert Pool (1999 on Windows) |
| WipEout 3 (1999 on PlayStation) |
| Drakan: Order of the Flame (1999 on Windows) |
| Lander (1999 on Windows) |
| Attack of the Saucerman! (1999 on Windows, PlayStation) |
| Pro 18 World Tour Golf (1999 on Windows, PlayStation) |
| Rollcage (1999 on Windows, PlayStation) |
| Rollcage (Limited Edition) (1999 on PlayStation) |
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History +
- May 13, 2000
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Midway announced that it had secured the North American publishing rights to Psygnosis' remaining PlayStation lineup (no PlayStation2 titles were involved in the deal). Amazing but true, Midway published upward of seven Psygnosis games that year on PS.
- 2000
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Psygnosis (as a Sony brand) abandoned the PC game market for good
- 1998
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Eidos Interactive bought Psygnosis' European operations. Psygnosis' US operations were folded into Sony's own development outfit, 989 Studios.
- January 1, 1997
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The company had eight development studios world wide (San Francisco, U.S.A; Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Stroud, London (2 studios), UK; and Paris, France) and over 700 employees.
- 1997
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The launch of the first US development studio based in San Francisco.
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Trivia +
The company logo was designed by contemporary artist Roger Dean, particularly known for his album covers for the bands "Yes" and "Asia".
Their official homepage used to be at http://www.psygnosis.com/
Locations & contact information in Dec. 1994:
Psygnosis Ltd.
South Harrington Building
Sefton Street
Liverpool, L3 4BQ, England
Tel: +44-(0)51-707-2333
Psygnosis USA
675 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
Tel: 617-497-7794 / 800-438-7794
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Related Web Sites +
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The Purple Owl
A quality fan site dedicated to Psygnosis and its more well-received games. As of the time of this writing, it is still in the beginning stages, but the History page is particularly well-done. -
Wikipedia
The Psygnosis company profile at Wikipedia
Frequent Collaborators
Companies- 16 games with Rockstar North Ltd.
- 13 games with PC Music Ltd.
- 9 games with Ubisoft Reflections Ltd.
- 9 games with Psygnosis, Inc.
- 9 games with WJS Design
- 8 games with Atari, Inc.
- 8 games with Visual Sciences Ltd.
- 8 games with Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe Ltd.
- 8 games with Psyclapse
- 8 games with Sony Electronic Publishing Ltd.
- 42 games with Paul Tweedle
- 36 games with Philip Morris
- 34 games with Steven Riding
- 29 games with Tim Wright
- 28 games with Mike Clarke
- 28 games with Stuart Allen
- 27 games with Mark Inman
- 27 games with Paul Evason
- 26 games with Mark O'Connor
- 26 games with Greg Duddle
Browse Games
- All games by Psygnosis Limited
- Published by Psygnosis Limited
- Developed by Psygnosis Limited
- Produced by Psygnosis Limited
- Ported by Psygnosis Limited
- Distributed by Psygnosis Limited
- Graphics by Psygnosis Limited
- Music by Psygnosis Limited
- Package Design by Psygnosis Limited
- Manual by Psygnosis Limited
- Testing by Psygnosis Limited
- Licensed by Psygnosis Limited
- Contributions by Psygnosis Limited
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