Factor 5 GmbH

1987:

• Company founded in Germany.

1991:

• After working as a small team for a few years, the members decide to give up their studies and officially "open" the company.

May, 1996:

• Company moves to San Rafael, California.

1997:

• Work is started on the Nintendo 64. Factor 5 develops proprietary speech compression and sound tools for the N64. Based on these efforts, Nintendo grants access to highly proprietary Microcode information and development environment.

1998:

• The MusyX sound-system is finished for the N64 and PC platforms, a program used to ease the integration of sound in games.

1999:

• MusyX is finished for Game Boy Color. Nintendo and Factor 5 enter a multi-year licensing agreement for MusyX to become the official sound and music system for Nintendo platforms. The initial design and development of MusyX for Nintendo´s next generation platforms Game Boy Advance and Nintendo Gamecube are started.

2000:

• MusyX for Game Boy Advance and Nintendo Gamecube becomes available for licensed Nintendo developers.

Oct, 2002:

• After completing a MPEG4 playback toolkit for the Nintendo Gamecube, Factor 5 and DivXNetworks team up to bring DVD-quality video to game consoles.

May, 2009:

• The US division Factor 5, Inc. is closed down.