Factor 5

Factor 5
legal form	Incorporated
founding	1997
resolution	May 14, 2009
Reason for dissolution	insolvency
Seat	San Rafael (California) , USA
management	Julian Eggebrecht
Branch	Software development
Website	factor5.de

Factor 5
legal form	GmbH
founding	1987
resolution	December 31, 2010
Reason for dissolution	Business abandonment
Seat	Cologne
management	Achim Moller
Branch	Software development
Website	www.factor5.de

Factor 5 is a German and later American company that developed computer and video games for over two decades. It emerged from the hacker group The Light Circle and was founded in 1987 in Cologne as a small development studio for computer games . After more than 20 years, the company finally went into bankruptcy in spring 2009, and the still existing German branch was also closed in 2010. In March 2017, Julian Eggebrecht, the long-time boss of the company, announced that Factor 5 had been re-established as a GmbH.

Company history

Foundation in Cologne

The 5 in the name comes from the number of members during the first few years, in early software demos the term Factor 3 still appeared. Internally, the company founders also liked to call themselves the Five Friends , alluding to the Enid Blyton books , because they were also friends with one another.

Photograph of a young Amiga player from England in the early 1990s who played Factor 5s "Turrican".

The first game, the Amiga version by Manfred Trenz ' Katakis , was so similar to the arcade game R-Type that it led to legal disputes with Irem . This led to several Katakis versions coming onto the market and, thanks to an agreement between the two parties, Factor 5 carried out the conversion from R-Type to the Amiga . Factor 5 achieved cult status through the development of the 16-bit versions of the C64 game Turrican .

After Turrican 2 , Factor 5 focused on the development of console games and worked closely with LucasArts and Nintendo , resulting in the development of the Star Wars series Rogue Squadron for the Nintendo 64 and Nintendo GameCube .

Relocation to the USA

Julian Eggebrecht at Gamescom 2012

In 1997, Factor 5 relocated its development activities to the USA with the establishment of Factor 5, LLC , on the one hand to be able to work better with LucasArts, but also because of the "arrogant (n) disregard of the Germans for this type of entertainment" (quote Factor-5 CEO Julian Eggebrecht).

The company's new headquarters were located in San Rafael , USA, a suburb of San Francisco near the well-known Silicon Valley . In Cologne, the former headquarters of the company, there was still a branch office as a representative for the European market.

In addition to the production of games for Amiga, PC and various consoles, Factor 5 also appeared as the producer of Chris Hülsbeck's first album .

The company's last product for the time being was the Lair , developed exclusively for the PlayStation 3 , which appeared at the same time as the Sony console went on sale in autumn 2007.

resolution

In December 2008, Factor 5, Inc. laid off 37 employees, half of the total workforce. On May 14, 2009 the closure of the US section was announced. The reason was serious financial problems. Part of the workforce around studio owner Julian Eggebrecht founded TouchFactor, a development studio for social games. The German branch was not affected by the bankruptcy, but was dissolved on December 31, 2010 following a shareholder resolution.

Re-establishment

In March 2017, Julian Eggebrecht announced that Factor 5 had reestablished itself and had acquired the rights to Turrican and all games from Rainbow Arts .

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ Company history , factor5.de (no date).

↑ Michaela Schiessl: VIDEO GAMES - The empire called back . In: Der Spiegel 22/2002 . SPIEGEL publishing house Rudolf Augstein. May 27, 2002. Retrieved January 21, 2012.

↑ Kris Graft: Source: Factor 5 Cuts 37 ( English ) In: EDGE . Future Publishing . December 15, 2008. Archived from the original on December 16, 2008. Retrieved on July 29, 2012.

↑ Factor 5: Sued by ex-employees , gamezone.de June 18, 2009.

↑ FACTOR 5 RISES FROM THE ASHES, REACQUIRES TURRICAN LICENSE, GIVES INSIGHT INTO SWITCH DEVELOPMENT , gonintendo.com March 15, 2017.

↑ # 91: Nintendo Switch, Richard Garriott , Game Veterans Podcast March 15, 2017.

[1] Company history , factor5.de (no date).

[2] Michaela Schiessl: VIDEO GAMES - The empire called back . In: Der Spiegel 22/2002 . SPIEGEL publishing house Rudolf Augstein. May 27, 2002. Retrieved January 21, 2012.

[3] Kris Graft: Source: Factor 5 Cuts 37 ( English ) In: EDGE . Future Publishing . December 15, 2008. Archived from the original on December 16, 2008. Retrieved on July 29, 2012.