Mindscape (company)

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Mindscape Group
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Mindscape
(1998–2001)
  • Game Studios (2001)

    • Mindscape was a

    The Learning Company in 1998 and bought out by Jean-Pierre Nordman in 2001, becoming headquartered in Boulogne-Billancourt, France. Following the poor performance of its products, Mindscape exited the video game industry in August 2011. Notable titles released by Mindscape include the MacVenture series, Balance of Power, Moonstone: A Hard Days Knight, Legend, Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat, Warhammer: Dark Omen and Lego Island
    .

    History

    Early years (1983–1988)

    Mindscape was founded in October 1983 as a wholly owned

    Sub Mission: A Matter of Life and Death.[3][4][5] In its early years, Mindscape lost about US$6 million annually.[6]

    In July 1986, Mindscape acquired the assets of Scarborough Systems, a software company from

    chairman, John Purcell, subsequently acquired Mindscape from SFN Partners on January 16, 1987, for $3 million.[7][10] Buoy retained his positions in the company, while Purcell became its chairman.[7] At this point, Mindscape had 74 employees.[7]

    With sales of $12 million, Mindscape had become profitable for the first time in the fourth quarter of 1986; it started publishing black numbers by 1987.

    over-the-counter, and the first shares were issued by July.[12][13] Bob Ingersoll and Dennis O'Malley were appointed vice president (VP) of marketing and VP of sales, respectively, in May 1987.[14] In November, Mindscape signed a lease of 21,000 square feet (2,000 m2) of office space in Wheeling, Illinois, for $236,000.[15] Robert A. Drell, formerly of Dresher Inc., became VP of finance and chief financial officer in October 1988.[16]

    Under The Software Toolworks and Pearson (1989–1997)

    In December 1989, video game company The Software Toolworks reached an agreement to acquire Mindscape, exchanging every Mindscape share for 0.4375 of a share in newly issued Toolworks common stock.[17] The deal was completed on March 13, 1990 and valued at $21.2 million.[18][19] Mindscape had been one of the approximately forty companies licensed to develop for Nintendo video game platforms, which was a major reason for the acquisition.[18][19][20] The two companies merged, and Buoy joined Les Crane on Toolworks' company board.[21] Following the acquisition, Mindscape became Toolwork's division working exclusively on games for Nintendo platforms, which sharply increased Toolwork's earnings.[18][19][22] Subsequently, in March 1994, Pearson plc agreed to acquire Toolworks for $462 million, with the deal closing on May 12, 1994.[23][24]

    Pearson was criticized for overpaying in the acquisition, and the acquired company lost $69 million in its early years under Pearson.[25][26] By November 1994, Toolworks had assumed the Mindscape identity.[27] The same year, Mindscape acquired video game developer Strategic Simulations.[28] In September 1995, it acquired Micrologic Software from Emeryville, California, to undisclosed terms.[29] In January 1996, John F. Moore became CEO after leaving the same position at Western Publishing.[30] In November, it laid off twelve developed staff as a cost reduction measure.[31] In 1997, Mindscape acquired software company Multimedia Design.[32] In its final year under Pearson, 1997, Mindscape become profitable again, generating $2.7 million.[33] One day prior to the release of Lego Island that year, Mindscape fired all of the development team that worked on the game to avoid paying them bonuses.[34]

    Under The Learning Company and later years (1998–2011)

    Pearson proceeded to sell Mindscape to

    The Learning Company (TLC) in March 1998 for $150 million in cash and stock.[35] A waiting period was temporarily imposed by the Federal Trade Commission and subsequently terminated the same month.[36] TLC expected that its stocks would rise $0.05 per share as a result of the acquisition, while Pearson lost around $347 million.[33][37] Later that year, when TLC integrated its Broderbund division, Mindscape took over Broderbund's productivity, reference and entertainment brands.[38] The company's Mindscape unit would acquire Petz developer PF.Magic in 1998.[39] TLC would be eventually acquired by Mattel in May 1999 and became a subsidiary of the company's Mattel Media division, later renamed Mattel Interactive.[40]
    By then, Mattel occasionally used the Mindscape name for publishing.

    TLC and Mattel Interactive's gaming assets were acquired by

    TLC-Edusoft executive Jean-Pierre Nordman bought out Mindscape from TLC, installing it as a separate entity in Boulogne-Billancourt, a suburb of Paris, France, and assuming a managerial role.[3][42]

    In October 2005, French video game developer and publisher Coktel Vision was sold to Mindscape, wherein eleven Coktel employees were absorbed into Mindscape.[43] The Coktel brand name, however, was retained by Mindscape many years afterwards; its history officially ended in 2011 when Mindscape closed.[44]

    By December 2009, Thierry Bensoussan had become the

    music game. U-Sing performed well at retail, but the cost of music licenses for the game had a severe impact on its revenue, while Crasher underperformed in general.[47][48] As a result, Mindscape announced on August 10, 2011, that it had closed Punchers Impact and laid off its forty employees, while itself would effectively exit the video game industry.[49] Some regional subsidiaries, such as Mindscape Asia-Pacific in Sydney, Australia, continued operating in the video game business as entities independent from Mindscape.[50]

    Software developed and/or published

    References

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    External links

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