Virgin Interactive Entertainment
Avalon Interactive Group, Ltd. was a British video game distributor based within Europe that formerly traded as the video game publishing and distributing division of British conglomerate the Virgin Group.
Logo used from 1993 to 1997 | |
| Formerly | UK Branch
|
|---|---|
| Company type | Public (1993–1998) Subsidiary (1983–1993, 1998–2005) Private (2005) |
| Industry | Video games |
| Predecessor | Virgin Games Mastertronic |
| Founded | 1983 (as Virgin Games) |
| Defunct | 1998 (US) November 22, 2005 (UK) |
| Fate | UK Branch Closed down after the bankruptcy of Titus Interactive American branch Purchased by Electronic Arts French branch Closed due to Titus' bankruptcy Spanish branch Split off and re-established as Virgin Play |
| Successor | EA Pacific Westwood Studios Interplay Entertainment Virgin Play |
| Headquarters | London, England, UK (international HQ) Irvine, California, US (global HQ) |
Key people |
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| Revenue | $99 million (£67 million) (1993) |
Number of employees | 500 (1997) |
| Parent | Virgin Group (1983–1994) Hasbro (1993–1994) Blockbuster (1994) Spelling Entertainment (1994–1998) Independent (1998–1999) Interplay Entertainment (1999–2001) Titus Interactive SA (1999–2005) |
| Subsidiaries | Avalon Interactive (Holdings) Limited Avalon Interactive (Investments) Limited Avalon Interactive (Overseas) Limited Avalon Interactive (UK) Limited Avalon Interactive SARL Avalon Interactive Deutschland GmbH |
| Website | www.avaloninteractive.co.uk (defunct) |
During the company's time under the Virgin brand, they had developed and published games for major platforms and employed developers, including Westwood Studios co-founder Brett Sperry and Earthworm Jim creators David Perry and Doug TenNapel. Others include video game composer Tommy Tallarico and animators Bill Kroyer and Andy Luckey.
Formed as Virgin Games in 1983, and built around a small development team called the Gang of Five, the company grew significantly after purchasing budget label Mastertronic in 1987. As Virgin's video game division grew into a multimedia powerhouse, it crossed over to other industries from toys to film to education. To highlight its focus beyond video games and on multimedia, the publisher was renamed Virgin Interactive Entertainment in 1993.
As result of a growing trend throughout the 1990s of media companies, movie studios and telecom firms investing in video game makers to create new forms of entertainment, VIE became part of the entertainment industry after being acquired by media companies Blockbuster and Viacom, who were attracted by its multimedia and CD-ROM-based software development. Being located in close proximity to the thirty-mile zone and having access to the media content of its parent companies drew Virgin Interactive's U.S. division closer to Hollywood as it began developing sophisticated interactive games, leading to partnerships with Disney and other major studios on motion picture-based games such as The Lion King, Aladdin, RoboCop, and The Terminator, in addition to being the publisher of popular titles from other companies like Capcom's Resident Evil series and Street Fighter Collection and id Software's Doom II in the European market.
Within the late-1990s, the North American operations were sold to Electronic Arts, while the European division later went under the hands of Interplay Entertainment and Titus Interactive. They soon transitioned exclusively as a distributor and were rebranded by Titus as Avalon Interactive in August 2003, and closed in 2005 following the former's bankruptcy. Currently, the VIE library and intellectual properties are owned by Interplay Entertainment as a result of its acquisition of Titus. A close affiliate and successor of Spanish origin, Virgin Play, was formed in 2002 from the ashes of former Virgin Interactive's Spanish division and kept operating until it folded in 2009.