Microids

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Microids
Microids-Logo.png

owner Anuman Interactive
Introductory year 1985
Products Computer and video games
Markets worldwide
Website www.microids.com

Microïds is a brand name for computer and video games from the French developer and publisher Anuman Interactive . The name goes back to the development studio of the same name founded by Elliot Grassiano in 1985. Is the brand known primarily for point-and-click - Adventures as the Syberia series Developer Benoît Sokal or ObsCure and Still Life .

history

founding

Elliot Grassiano founded Microïds in 1985. After around ten years as a pure development studio, the company transformed into a publisher and distributor in the mid-1990s. In addition to the company's headquarters in Vélizy near Paris, France , foreign branches were set up for the sales subsidiary Microïds Italy in Milan , Microïds Ltd. in Milton Keynes , United Kingdom and another development studio, Microïds Canada Inc. in Montreal .

MC2 France aka MC2-Microïds

former logo, around 2005

In 2003, Emmanuel Olivier took control of Microïds.

Olivier founded Index + , a software developer for interactive multimedia CD-ROMs, back in 1992 . After merging with Arcad, founded by Vincent Berlioz and Jacques Simian in 1995, the company mainly developed graphic adventures. In September 2000, Index + gained greater prominence through the takeover of France Telecom Multimedia , distributor and subsidiary of the national telephone company France Telecom . However, the company that emerged from the merger lost its independence and shortly afterwards it belonged to Wanadoo , the Internet division of France Telecom, as the Wanadoo Edition video game division. Emmanuel Olivier left the company in January 2002 after differences of opinion. When Thierry Breton decided a year later , as the new CEO of France Telecom from January 2003, to lay off employees at Wanadoo Edition and to split off the video game division, Emmanuel Oliver entered into negotiations with the French government. He suggested merging the division with the financially troubled Microïds. As a result of the merger, MC2 France was created on September 30, 2003 . As of February 2004, the company had more than 150 employees, 95 of them in Montreal.

In March 2005, the former Microïds branch in Canada was left to Ubisoft , whereby Ubisoft received no intellectual property, but only equipment and employees to expand its own studio in Montreal. The British Microïds branch was dissolved by 2005 and the Italian subsidiary was also split off under the name Blue Label Entertainment .

On November 28, 2007, MC2 France revived the name Microïds as a brand name. From this point on, productions were either marketed under MICROÏDS Paris , for the headquarters in the Paris suburb of Montrouge , or under MICROÏDS Montreal , for the development site in Canada. In December 2007, a Microïds online store was opened via the platform of the French service Metaboli . In October 2008 the company acquired the name and trademark rights of Cryo Interactive Entertainment, which had been insolvent since 2002, and announced that it would digitally publish its old games and new developments based on them under the Microïds brand. As a pure publisher, Microïds also published games from the independent Kheops Studio at that time .

Anuman Interactive

On November 23, 2009, Anuman Interactive announced that it would take over the brand and all associated licenses with effect from January 1, 2010. Upon completion of the acquisition, the company announced the continuation of adventure series such as the Dracula series and Syberia. However, Dracula 4: The Shadow of the Dragon did not appear until 2013 and work on a third part of Syberia was not started again until the end of 2014. For some of the games that have already been released, ports for the Apple iOS mobile operating system have appeared . In 2012, a new logo was introduced with white lettering on a light green background and the brand was expanded to include Microïds Games For All for games that do not belong to the adventure genre.

On November 26, 2012, the company announced that the original studio founder, Elliot Grassiano, would return to Microïds as vice president of software development. In August 2013, Anuman Interactive acquired a license to develop games based on the crime novels by Agatha Christie . As the first product for this license, Anuman announced the adventure Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders for 2016 at the Gamescom 2015 trade fair in Cologne . There was also a preview of Syberia III and three other games, which should appear under the Microïds label by the end of 2015 and 2016.

Publications (selection)

title genre publication Platforms
Iron trackers Car racing, action 1989 Amiga, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC, DOS
Dominium Strategy, space 1992 Amiga, Atari ST, DOS
Nicky Boom Platformer 1992 Amiga, Atari ST, DOS, iOS, Mac OS
Nicky 2 Platformer 1993 Amiga, Atari ST, DOS, iOS, Mac OS
Carlos Platformer 1994 Amiga, Atari ST, DOS
Secret Mission Adventure 1996 DOS
Evidence: The Last Report Adventure 1996 DOS, PlayStation
Amerzone Adventure 1999 PC, PlayStation, iOS, Mac
Gruntz strategy 1999 Pc
Road to India Adventure 2001 Pc
Syberia Adventure 2002 PC, Playstation 2, XBox, Windows Mobile, Nintendo DS, Android
Post mortem Adventure 2003 Pc
Syberia II Adventure 2004 PC, PlayStation 2, XBox
ObsCure Survival horror 2004 PlayStation 2, PC, XBox, PlayStation Portable
Still life Adventure 2005 PC, XBox
Still Life 2 Adventure 2009 PC, Mac OS
Subject 13 Adventure 2015 PC, Mac OS
Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders Adventure 2016 PC, Mac OS, PlayStation 4, XBox One
Moto Racer 4 Racing game 2016 PC, PlayStation 4, XBox One
Yesterday Origins Adventure 2016 PC, Mac OS, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android
Syberia 3 Adventure 2017 PC, PlayStation 4, XBox One
ATV drift & tricks Racing game 2017 PC, PlayStation 4, XBox One
Gear.Club Unlimited (Remaster) Racing game 2017 Nintendo Switch
Gear.Club Unlimited 2 (Remaster) Racing game 2018 Nintendo Switch
Flashback - 25th Anniversary (Original & Remaster) Platform 2018 PC, Mac OS, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Great chariot Platform 2018 Nintendo Switch
Asterix & Obelix XXL2 (Remaster) Action adventure 2018 PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch

Asterix & Obelix XXL3: The Crystal Menhir , TOKI (Remaster), the adventure Blacksad: Under the Skin , the party game Fort Boyard and XIII (Remake) have been announced for 2019 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ German Patent and Trademark Office Register: 522520 , accessed on December 19, 2015
  2. ↑ Microïds acquires Cryo rights . Microids. October 20, 2008. Retrieved October 27, 2008.
  3. ↑ a b Microids five pack: Syberia 3 and Co. in the Gamescom preview , in: PC Games (online) on August 7, 2015, accessed on September 1, 2015