Infogrames Studios Ltd.

Overview

Gremlin was founded in 1984 by Ian Stewart, Sales and Marketing Director, and Kevin Norburn, the Financial Director. They originally opened a computer shop in Carver Street, Sheffield, called Just Micro. From there they branched out into a software house. Tony Crowther, already well known for a few Commodore programs was made a company director. Geoff Brown, of US Gold and who had just started Centresoft, was invited to become Managing Director.

In December 1996, Gremlin purchased Scottish developers DMA Design in a deal worth around £4.2m. In April 1999, the company had around 300 employees based at 3 sites.

Gremlin's titles were published in the United States by Interplay. In December 1997, the Company signed a new publishing deal for its Actua Sports (and two non-sports) titles with Fox Interactive.

In the UK, Gremlin distributes directly to large multiples and in Europe, the company sources individual territory distribution deals on a product by product basis whilst still retaining Funsoft as its default distributor.

French publisher Infogrames acquired the Company for £24m in 1999.

Gremlin has also had a budget label, called GBH.

In 2003 Ian Stewart was able to buy back the rights to former Gremlin games from Atari.

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Also Known As

Gremlin Interactive Ltd. (from 1994 to 1999)
Gremlin Graphics Software Ltd. (from 1984 to 1994)

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Trivia

Company address and contact information (1999):

Gremlin Interactive Limited
The Green House
33 Bowdon Street
Sheffield S1 4HA
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)114 279 9020
Fax: +44 (0)114 273 8601
Website: www.gremlin.com

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