Prima Games
Shreveport, Louisiana, U.S. | |
Publication types | Books |
---|---|
Fiction genres | Video game strategy guides |
Official website | primagames |
Prima Games is a
The company was acquired by GAMURS Group in January 2022.[3]
History
Prima Publishing was a small publisher working out of a residential-style home office in Roseville, California when in 1990 its owner, Ben Dominitz, contracted with author Rusel DeMaria to create a video game strategy guide imprint, initially called "The Secrets of the Games". At the time, DeMaria was senior editor for
Notable titles included Myst: The Official Strategy Guide, which sold in excess of 1.25 million copies in all versions, The 7th Guest: The Official Strategy Guide, X-Wing: The Official Strategy Guide, TIE Fighter: The Official Strategy Guide, Secret of Mana Game Secrets, Prince of Persia: The Official Strategy Guide, a special Sonic the Hedgehog book for Sega and two Earthworm Jim strategy guides. DeMaria served as the principal author and creative director of Secrets of the Games between 1990 and 1996. He also was the editor on several books by other authors.
In 2005, Prima introduced electronic distribution of gaming guides.[4]
In 2006, Prima Games undertook an effort to improve the quality of
Prima entered a partnership with Nintendo in 2007, creating several official game guides over the years (such as for Super Mario Galaxy, Super Mario Galaxy 2, and Super Mario Odyssey.). They contained gameplay tips, walkthroughs, and canon lore. Some of these even featured never-before-seen concept art.[7]
In 2009, Prima Games decided to take the expert strategy concept an additional step. First, they hired The Syndicate (its own independent studio) in place of a specific author. The guides would be written from the ground up solely by The Syndicate. They filled the role of writer, author, project management and editor. Second, the scope of the guides they worked on was expanded from just MMOs to include FPS, RTS and RPG games.
In 2010, Prima started selling their strategy guides on Steam.
In 2013, Prima parent company
Prima has also worked with developers directly to create guides like
Penguin Random House announced in November 2018 that it has decided to close Prima Games by Q2 2019.[10] However, by March 14, 2019, the division was acquired by Asteri Holdings, which will shutter the print operations and instead have Prima provide game strategy guides in online form as well as expanding into gaming news.[11]
The company was acquired by GAMURS Group in January 2022.
References
- ^ "Prima Publishing to Be Realigned Within the Crown Publishing Group" (PDF). Random House. Retrieved 2007-02-24.
- ^ "Asteri acquires Prima Games". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 2019-04-23.
- ^ "GAMURS Group acquires PRIMA Games". GAMURS Group. Retrieved 2022-12-13.
- ^ "IGN's Direct2Drive to Offer Downloadable Prima Guides". IGN. Archived from the original on 2007-02-03. Retrieved 2007-02-24.
- ^ "Part Of The Author Team". Prima Games. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2009-09-11.
- ^ "Pirates Press Release". Prima Games. Retrieved 2009-09-11.
- ^ Nintendo Power Magazine (Internet Archive: Wayback Machine)
- ^ "Two big video game strategy guide makers become one". Polygon. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
- ^ Snider, Mike (December 9, 2004). "Strategy guides are as hot as video games". USA Today. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
- ^ Slead, Evan (2018-11-08). "Strategy guide publisher Prima Games is shutting down". Electronic Gaming Monthly. Archived from the original on 2018-11-09. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
- GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved March 14, 2019.