Overview
Founded in Chelmsford, Essex, UK in 1986 by
Jon Hare and
Chris Yates, two former school friends, Sensible Software was one of the most successful European development teams throughout the 8 Bit and 16-Bit eras, creating no less than seven #1 games in the UK in their 13 year history and scooping many industry awards in the process. Well regarded as eccentric mavericks, the team produced some strange and original games over the years. They later moved their offices to the Cambridgeshire town of March before settling in Saffron Walden, Essex in 1993.
Sensible Software enjoyed their greatest run of success between 1991 and 1995, with hits such as
the Sensible Soccer games including
Sensible World of Soccer,
the Cannon Fodder games and
Mega lo Mania. They were well known for their humorous small characters, quirky pop video intros and clean, precise and imaginative gameplay.
However although they became masters of the 2D graphics machines, their transition into the 3D era was less successful and after spending considerable time and effort on their ground breaking game
Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll (which they initially signed to
Warner Interactive Entertainment), they found the very risqué game too near the knuckle for Warner's purchaser's
GT Software and were subsequently unable to sell it on to any publishers in the pre-GTA days of 1998.
In 1999 Jon and Chris sold Sensible Software to
Codemasters, one of the top games publishers in the UK, for an undisclosed sum.
Subsequent to Codemasters purchase of Sensible Software in 1999 Jon Hare has designed many games for Codemasters including various versions of Sensibler Soccer and Cannon Fodder.
Games
Trivia
Sensible Software won the "Best Programmers '87" award from the German gaming magazine Power Play.
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