Ariolasoft

Ariolasoft GmbH
legal form	GmbH
founding	March 1986
resolution	August 1990
Reason for dissolution	Name change after company spin-off ( management buy-out )
Seat	Germany Gütersloh (until the end of 1998) Rietberg - Varensell
management	Hans-Joachim Krusche
Branch	Software Verlag Development , publishing and distribution of software

United Software GmbH
legal form	GmbH
founding	August 1990
resolution	1994
Reason for dissolution	Takeover by MicroProse Germany
Seat	Germany Rietberg - Varensell
management	Hans-Joachim Krusche
Branch	Software Verlag Development , publishing and distribution of software

Ariolasoft , later United Software, was a German manufacturer, publisher and distributor of software, primarily for video and computer games , in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Company history

Ariola division

The origins of what would later become the company go back to 1982, when the Bertelsmann group decided to set up its own department for the distribution of video games at its record label Ariola . Starting with the exclusive distribution of Atari VCS titles by the American developer and publisher Activision , Ariolasoft brought numerous console games to the German market from 1983 onwards. With the advent of 8-bit computers, especially the Commodore C64 , Ariolasoft quickly grew into the computer games market. The large American publishers Electronic Arts and Brøderbund did not yet have their own branches in Europe at that time and therefore left the marketing of their products to a local provider, and increasingly Ariolasoft, among others. In addition, Ariolasoft published on behalf of COSMI, Starlight Software, Synapse Software , HESware , Creative Software and others.

At that time, software sales primarily required repackaging and transfer to different storage media. In addition to floppy disk drives in various formats, especially 3 "or 5¼", a large number of home computers also used Datasette at that time . Ariolasoft partly took over the porting to other platforms, especially to the Amstrad CPC, which is widely used in German-speaking countries as Schneider CPC, or the Sinclair ZX Spectrum , and promoted its own developers. The best-known self-publications from this time include the trading simulation Hanse and the text-graphic adventure " Ooze ".

In addition to the computer games business, the company expanded its catalog in the summer of 1986 to include software for home users such as Printmaster from Brøderbund and the popular Electronic Arts Deluxe series of Deluxe Paint , Deluxe Print and Deluxe Video for the Commodore Amiga . A spreadsheet program called Calkit , Bygraph for displaying graphic diagrams and Newsroom , a text editor, were planned.

Ariolasoft GmbH

Logo around 1987

In 1986 Bertelsmann decided to separate the software division from the music business of Ariola and to make it legally independent by founding Ariolasoft GmbH under the managing director Hans-Joachim Krusche.

At the end of 1986, SEGA was looking for distributors for the simultaneous introduction of its Master System in North America and Europe. In Germany, Ariolasoft was the first company with which an agreement was reached. The campaign started before the end of the year and some German magazines were given the opportunity to look at the new console and some games for it for the first time. Until 1988, however, sales in Germany via Ariolasoft were much worse than with Mastertronic , which was very successful on the British market , so that the contract with Ariolasoft was no longer extended.

In 1988 the market share in Germany was already around 45%. A market share of 70% should be achieved by the time the European internal market is implemented at the beginning of 1993. The Ariolasoft UK branch, opened in 1984 under the direction of former CBS managers Ashley Gray and Frank Brunger, was closed in spring 1988 under the direction of Willi Carmincke. Even three years after its launch in the UK, sales were well below expectations and the promising market for 16-bit computers in Germany was estimated to be three times the size of the English market.

In 1989, the “Art Edition” label was launched with the developers Ralf Glau, Holger Paulsen and Harald Uenzelmann to distribute their own productions. In 1990 Ariolasoft was the market leader in selling game software on the German market. Together with competitors Rushware and US Gold , they covered 90% of the market.

United Software GmbH

In 1990 Bertelsmann largely gave up the software and computer games divisions. Ariolasoft GmbH was sold to its managing director Hans-Joachim Krusche via a management buyout. Outside of the Bertelsmann Group, the protected brand name Ariola was no longer allowed to be used. The company therefore decided to rename it to United Software GmbH . This was intended to express the multitude of international companies such as Cinemaware , FTL Games , Grandslam Entertainment, Hewson Consultants , Ocean Software and Sierra Entertainment , for whose games the company was most recently active.

United Software was taken over by MicroProse Germany in 1993 . In 1998 it was taken over by Hasbro and in 2001 by Infogrames , which then renamed Atari SA in 2003 .

Developer and sales label

Especially for software developed by German programmers on C64 and Atari XL / XE, the Axis label was created in November 1985 in addition to the main Ariola label . Behind Axis or Axis Komputerkunst was not an offshoot of Ariola, but a group of mostly part-time programmers who had organized themselves as a pressure group. For sales or development, if mutual support was not sufficient, the Ariola software department was used as a partner.

The British Ariolasoft UK Ltd. published numerous games not only under its own label, but also over

• 39 Steps (Bride of Frankenstein, Len Deighton's Blitzkrieg: The Game - From the ..., They Stole a Million)
• REAKTÖR Software (Centurions: Power X Treme, Challenge of the Gobots, Kolonialmacht, Mountie Mick's Deathride, The Rubicon Alliance)
• Viz Design (Frankenstein Jnr. And Werewolves of London).

Published games (excerpt)

Surname	Computer system	developer	Main publisher	genre	year
0 ° north	Atari , Commodore 64	Axis computer art	Ariolasoft	Text adventure	1985
Adventure Construction Set	Commodore 64	Electronic Arts	Electronic Arts	editor	1985
Airline	Atari, Commodore 64	Hans Jürgen Richstein, Holger Cordes	Ariolasoft	strategy	1986
Alley Cat	Atari, Commodore 64, NEC PC-88 , PC	Synapse software	Synapse software	Action	1983
Archon: The Light and the Dark	Commodore Amiga , Apple II , Atari, Commodore 64, Schneider CPC , PC, Sinclair ZX Spectrum	Free Fall Associates	Electronic Arts	strategy	1983
Archon II: Adept	Commodore Amiga, Apple II, Atari, Commodore 64, Schneider CPC, Sinclair ZX Spectrum	Free Fall Associates	Electronic Arts	strategy	1984
Aztec Challenge	Commodore Amiga, Atari, Commodore 64, Commodore VC 20	Cosmi	Cosmi	skill	1982
Batalyx	Commodore 64	Llamasoft	Ariolasoft	Action, shooter	1985
Blue Max 2001	Atari, Commodore 64	Synapse software	Synapse software	Action	1984
Camelot Warriors	Schneider CPC	Dinamic software	Dinamic software	Jump 'n' run	1986
Cavelord	Atari	Axis computer art	Ariolasoft	Action adventure	1985
Caverns of Khafka	Atari, Commodore 64	Cosmi	Cosmi	Action, arcade	1983
Cromwell House	Atari, Commodore 64	Axis computer art	Ariolasoft	Text adventure	1985
The House	Commodore Amiga, Atari ST , MS-DOS PC	Gunter Stadhagen	Ariolasoft	simulation	1990
The magazine	Commodore Amiga, Atari, Commodore 64, Schneider CPC	Honey design	Ariolasoft	simulation	1988
The Ralf Glau Edition	Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64	Ralf Glau	Ariolasoft	Game collection	1991
David's Midnight Magic	Commodore 64	Brøderbund	Brøderbund	Action	1984
Deactivators	Commodore 64, Schneider CPC, Sinclair ZX Spectrum	Tigress Marketing	Ariolasoft	strategy	1986
Golf Construction Set	Commodore 64	Andromeda software	Ariolasoft	editor	1985
Hard Hat Mack	Atari, Schneider CPC	Michael Abbot, Matthew Alexander	Electronic Arts	Jump 'n' run	1983
Hanse	Schneider CPC, Commodore 64, MS-DOS PC, Atari ST, Commodore Amiga	Ralf Glau, Bernd Westphal	Ariolasoft	Economic simulation	1986
Hellowoon: The Secret of the Magic Wand	Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64	Dragonware Games	Ariolasoft	Text adventure	1987
Inspector Griffu	Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS PC	Tale software	Ariolasoft	Adventure, detective	1990
Invaders of the Lost Tomb	Commodore 64	Andromeda software	Spinnaker software	puzzle	1985
Emperor	Atari, Schneider CPC, Commodore 64	Creative computer design	Ariolasoft	Economic simulation	1984
Karateka	Schneider CPC, Sinclair ZX Spectrum	Brøderbund	Brøderbund	Action, martial arts	1984
Lapis Philosophorum - The Philosopher's Stone	Atari , Commodore 64	Hans Jürgen Richstein, A. Veldkamp	Ariolasoft	Text adventure	1985
Mrs. Mop	Commodore 64	Reaktör software	Ariolasoft	Action	1987
Ooze: When the ghosts got worn out	Commodore Amiga	Dragonware Games	Dragonware Games	Text adventure	1988
Operation Whirlwind	Atari, Commodore 64	Brøderbund	Brøderbund	strategy	1983
Panzadrome	Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Schneider CPC	The RamJam Corp.	Ariolasoft	Action	1985
Peter Beardsley's International Football	Commodore 64	Teque London	Grand slam entertainments	Action, sport	1988
Quatbol	Commodore Amiga, Atari ST	Art Edition	Ariolasoft	Action	1990
Racing Destruction Set	Atari, Commodore 64	Electronic Arts	Electronic Arts	editor	1985
Raid on Bungeling Bay	Commodore 64	Brøderbund	Brøderbund	Action, shooter	1984
Shipping company	Commodore Amiga	Digital artists	Ariolasoft	Economic simulation	1988
Robot Commander	Commodore Amiga	Art Edition	Ariolasoft	Real-time strategy	1990
Skyfox	Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Schneider CPC	Raymond E. Tobey	Electronic Arts	simulation	1985-86
Horror stone	Atari	Axis computer art	Ariolasoft	Action adventure	1985
The Mask of the Sun	Atari, Commodore 64	Ultrasoft	Brøderbund	Adventure	1982
They stole a million	Schneider CPC, Commodore 64, Sinclair ZX Spectrum	39 steps (Ariolasoft)	Ariolasoft	puzzle	1986
The Seven Cities of Gold	Atari, Commodore 64, Apple II	Ozark Softscape	Electronic Arts	strategy	1984
Shamus Case II	Atari	Synapse software	Synapse software	Action	1983
The big deal	Commodore Amiga, Commodore 64	Radarsoft BV	Ariolasoft	strategy	1986
Think!	Schneider CPC, Sinclair ZX Spectrum	The RamJAm Corp.	Ariolasoft	puzzle	1985
Vermeer	Schneider CPC, Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS PC	Ralf Glau	Ariolasoft	Economic simulation	1987
Werner: Let's go	Schneider CPC, Commodore 64	Micro partner software	Ariolasoft	Action	1986
Yuppi's Revenge	Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOSPC	Ralf Glau	Ariolasoft	Economic simulation	1988
Zombies	Sinclair ZX Spectrum	BRAM Inc.	Electronic Arts	puzzle	1985

literature

• Activision was born in Germany. An interview with Winrich Derlien. On: computerspielgeschichten.de , 2006

Web links

• United Software GmbH at MobyGames (English, accessed on January 21, 2014)
• Ariolasoft UK at MobyGames (accessed January 21, 2014)
• 39 steps at MobyGames (English, accessed on January 21, 2014)
• REAKTÖR software at MobyGames (English, accessed on January 21, 2014)
• Viz Design at MobyGames (English, accessed on January 21, 2014)
• Ariolasoft UK at World of Spectrum and Ariolasoft UK at Commodore Horizons 1985

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ariolasoft GmbH - HRB 2174 , Federal Gazette April 9, 1986, Rheda-Wiedenbrück District Court on March 5, 1986, first entry in the commercial register. Archived at GBI-Genios , accessed January 22, 2014
2. ^ Ariolasoft GmbH - HRB 2174, Federal Gazette November 23, 1988, District Court Rheda-Wiedenbrück on October 26, 1988, registered office of the company
3. ↑ Ariolasoft GmbH - HRB 1897, Federal Gazette August 8, 1990, District Court Rheda-Wiedenbrück, name change to UNITED Internet GmbH
4. ↑ UNITED Internet GmbH - HRB 1897, Federal Gazette July 21, 1994, District Court Rheda-Wiedenbrück on July 1, 1994
5. ↑ Ariola is Flying High. Company Profile. In: Your Computer , 5/1986, p. 24, archived at World of Spectrum , accessed on January 21, 2014 (English).
6. ↑ Ariola is Flying High. Company Profile. In: Your Computer , 5/1986, p. 25, archived at World of Spectrum , accessed on January 21, 2014 (English).
7. ^ ^{A b} Sam Pettus: Service Games: The Rise and Fall of SEGA . Ed .: David Chen. 2013, ISBN 978-1-4942-8835-8 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
8. ↑ US games invasion continues. In: Popular Computing Weekly , Issue 10, October 1984, p. 1, archived at World of Spectrum , accessed on January 21, 2014 (English).
9. ↑ Two Down. In: Crash , issue 50, March 1988, p. 8, archived at World of Spectrum , accessed on January 21, 2014 (English).
10. ^ ^{A b} Hans-Dieter Kübler: Media for children. From literature to the internet portal. An overview. Westdeutscher Verlag, Wiesbaden 2002, ISBN 3-531-13824-3 . P. 141.
11. ↑ Ariolasoft is dead - long live United Software. In: Happy Computer magazine Power Play Special 8/1989, archived at The Thalion Source , accessed on January 21, 2014.
12. ↑ Hit! - The print / image advertising program in 1989, archived at The Thalion Source , accessed on February 2, 2014
13. ↑ Axis - software from Germany . In: Happy Computer , issue 11 / November 1986, p. 171
14. ↑ The professional players . In: Happy Computer No. 4 - April 1986, p. 92 f. (Digitized version page 92 , page 93 )