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Saffire
Formerly	Cygnus Multimedia Productions (1993–1995)
Company type	Private
Industry	Video games
Founded	1993; 31 years ago in Orem, Utah, US
Founders	Les Pardew; Charles Moore;
Defunct	2007
Fate	Dissolved
Headquarters	South Jordan, Utah, US
Key people	Les Pardew (CEO); Hal Rushton (president); Mark Kendell (chairman);
Number of employees	120 (2001)

Saffire was an American video game developer based in South Jordan, Utah. Founded as Cygnus Multimedia Productions in 1993 by Les Pardew and Charles Moore, it was originally based in Pardew's basement in Orem with a team of six people. Pardew bought out Moore's share in 1994 and involved Hal Rushton as a partner in Moore's place. Cygnus was renamed Saffire in October 1995 and moved from Pleasant Grove to American Fork shortly thereafter for further expansion. Saffire became defunct in 2007.

History

Saffire was founded by Leslie W. ("Les") Pardew with assistance by Charles Moore in 1993.^[1] The team initially consisted of six people working from Pardew's basement in Orem, Utah, and expanded to fourteen when it was incorporated in November 1993.^[2]^[3] The company was named Cygnus Multimedia Productions, taking the name from mythological king Cycnus of Liguria "because it sounded cool" and started out by creating artwork for video games of other developers.^[1]^[3]

In 1994, Pardew bought out Moore's stake in the company and brought on Hal Rushton, the former "vice president of product development" for Sculptured Software, as a partner.^[1] Rushton became the company's general manager, with Pardew as the president.^[3] By February 1995, Cygnus employed 50 people in a bottom-floor office in Pleasant Grove; the office was small, wherefore staff worked in shifts, and frequently flooded during rainfall.^[1]^[3] Cygnus changed its name to Saffire in October 1995 and moved to a new studio in the Utah Valley Business Park in American Fork later that year.^[1]^[2] The move allowed Saffire to engage in the full production of video games, which Pardew sought to fasten with continued expansion.^[1] To raise capital, Pardew borrowed US$200,000 from Utah Technology Finance Corp. (UTFC) in September 1996 and further $125,000 in March 1997.^[1]

Rushton became the company's president by December 1997, while Pardew assumed the role of chief executive officer.^[1] Saffire settled in expanded offices in Pleasant Grove in January 1999.^[4] By that time, Mark Kendell had become the company's chairman.^[5] Saffire continued to expand, with 80 employees in December 1999 and 120 employees in July 2001, the latter while based in American Fork.^[6]^[7]

In March 2007, Saffire (at the time based in South Jordan) was developing Cryptid Hunter, then scheduled for release in 2008.^[8] However, Saffire went out of business later that year.^[9]

Games developed

Title	Publisher(s)	Platform(s)	Release date
HardBall '95	Accolade	Sega Genesis	1995
Wayne Gretzky and the NHLPA All-Stars	Time Warner Interactive	SNES	1995
Nester's Funky Bowling	Nintendo	Virtual Boy	February 1996
The Suit	SoftKey Multimedia	Microsoft Windows, MS-DOS	1996
They Call Me... The Skul	SoftKey Multimedia, The Learning Company	Microsoft Windows, MS-DOS	1996
NFL Legends Football '98	Accolade	Microsoft Windows	August 31, 1997
James Bond 007	Nintendo	Game Boy	January 29, 1998
Rampage World Tour	Midway Games	Nintendo 64	March 30, 1998
Bio F.R.E.A.K.S.	Midway Games	Nintendo 64, PlayStation	May 31, 1998
Oddworld Adventures	GT Interactive	Game Boy	December 1998
Animaniacs: Ten Pin Alley	ASC Games	PlayStation	December 1, 1998
StarCraft: Brood War	Blizzard Entertainment	Microsoft Windows, Mac OS	December 18, 1998
Top Gear Rally 2	Kemco	Nintendo 64	October 31, 1999
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six	Red Storm Entertainment	Nintendo 64	November 17, 1999
Billy Bob's Huntin'-n-Fishin'	Midway Games	Game Boy Color	November 17, 1999
Xena: Warrior Princess: The Talisman of Fate	Titus Software	Nintendo 64	December 14, 1999
Oddworld Adventures 2	GT Interactive	Game Boy Color	January 2000
The Mask of Zorro	Sunsoft	Game Boy Color	February 2000
CyberTiger	Electronic Arts	Nintendo 64	February 29, 2000
ESPN MLS GameNight	Konami	PlayStation	September 19, 2000
Army Men: Sarge's Heroes	Midway Games	Dreamcast	October 30, 2000
Microsoft Pinball Arcade	Classified Games (U.S.), Cryo Interactive (PAL)	Game Boy Color	2001
Microsoft: The Best of Entertainment Pack	Classified Games (U.S.), Cryo Interactive (PAL)	Game Boy Color	2001
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear	Red Storm Entertainment	PlayStation	March 27, 2001
Lego Bionicle: Quest for the Toa	Lego Software	Game Boy Advance	October 3, 2001
Lego Bionicle: The Legend of Mata Nui	Lego Software	Microsoft Windows	Canceled in October 2001
E.T.: Escape from Planet Earth	NewKidCo	Game Boy Color	November 4, 2001
Barbarian	Titus Software	PlayStation 2	June 27, 2002
Hot Wheels Velocity X	THQ	Game Boy Advance	October 31, 2002
Justice League: Injustice for All	Midway Games	Game Boy Advance	November 17, 2002
The Hobbit	Sierra Entertainment	Game Boy Advance	November 11, 2003
Peter Pan: The Motion Picture Event	Atari Interactive	Game Boy Advance	December 10, 2003
Van Helsing	Vivendi Universal Games	PlayStation 2, Xbox, Game Boy Advance	May 6, 2004
Around the World in 80 Days	Hip Games	Game Boy Advance	July 5, 2004
Thunderbirds	Vivendi Universal Games	Game Boy Advance	August 10, 2004

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Pusey, Roger (December 24, 1997). "UTFC helps Saffire Corp. grow like a house a-fire". Deseret News. Archived from the original on June 20, 2020. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
^ ^a ^b "Cygnus Multimedia Gets Recognition – and a New Name". Deseret News. October 25, 1995. Archived from the original on June 20, 2020. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Romboy, Dennis (February 22, 1995). "Cygnus Takes Place Among 'the Stars'". Deseret News. Archived from the original on June 20, 2020. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
^ Haddock, Sharon (February 3, 1999). "'Motion capture' nets growth for company – Saffire Corp. puts realistic moves in lot of video games". Deseret News. Archived from the original on June 20, 2020. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
^ Christiansen, Barbara (January 20, 1999). "Saffire Corp. brings video game development to P.G." American Fork Citizen. p. 15. Archived from the original on June 20, 2020. Retrieved June 20, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Strickland, Tosha (December 12, 1999). "Saffire". Daily Herald. p. 26. Archived from the original on June 20, 2020. Retrieved June 20, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
^ McDermott, Tara (July 6, 2001). "LEGO builds ties with Utah company". Daily Herald. Archived from the original on June 20, 2020. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
^ House, Dawn (March 15, 2007). "SLC is video game capital of America". The Salt Lake Tribune. Archived from the original on June 20, 2020. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
^ Taborelli, Luca (February 27, 2019). "Cryptid Hunter [PS3 – Cancelled]". Unseen64. Archived from the original on September 30, 2020. Retrieved September 30, 2020.