Kaboom Studios

Kaboom Studios Limited
FormerlyGeoff Brown Holdings Limited (1997–2000)
Company typePrivate
IndustryVideo games
FoundedJanuary 1997; 28 years ago (1997-01)
FounderGeoff Brown
Defunct9 September 2003 (2003-09-09)
FateReceivership
Headquarters
England
Key people
Geoff Brown
Subsidiaries

Kaboom Studios Limited (formerly Geoff Brown Holdings Limited) was a British holding company established by Geoff Brown in January 1997 to pursue video game development investment.

History

In December 1996, Geoff Brown acquired a 75% stake in Silicon Dreams Studio for at least £500,000.[1] Silicon Dreams Studio was founded by Brown in March 1994, as in-house development team for his publishing company, U.S. Gold, until the entire CentreGold umbrella (including U.S. Gold and Silicon Dreams) was sold to Eidos Interactive in April 1996.[2] In January 1997, Brown also acquired Attention to Detail, and opened Geoff Brown Holdings to manage the majority ownerships in the two studios.[3] A motion capture studio, Audiomotion, was established under the Geoff Brown Holdings umbrella in 1997,[4] and Pivotal Games, another developer, was acquired by the company in August 2000.[5]

In 2003, Kaboom Studios faced major financial issues, resulting in the closure of Attention to Detail and Silicon Dreams Studio on 28 August 2003 and 3 September 2003, respectively.[6][7] Meanwhile, Audiomotion's Mick Morris performed a management buyout for the company, in order for Audiomotion to "reboot" itself and avoid closure.[4][8] Kaboom Studios went into receivership on 9 September 2003,[7] with all assets being transferred to Ernst & Young, of which the still-active Pivotal Games was put up for sale.[9] On 29 September 2003, SCi Games acquired Pivotal Games from Ernst & Young for a total of £2.36 million.[10]

References

  1. ^ "SILICON DREAMS TO BE 75% ACQUIRED BY NEW FIRM". www.telecompaper.com. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
  2. ^ ""It felt like robbery": Tomb Raider and the fall of Core Design". arstechnica.com. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
  3. ^ "Geoff Brown". Attention to Detail. Archived from the original on 17 January 1998.
  4. ^ a b "Moving On Up". gamesindustry.biz. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
  5. ^ "History". Pivotal Games. Archived from the original on 28 April 2001.
  6. ^ "ATD goes to the wall; Kaboom in crisis?". gamesindustry.biz. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
  7. ^ a b "Kaboom goes into receivership; Pivotal for sale". gamesindustry.biz. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
  8. ^ "Audiomotion MD Mick Morris leaves after 17 years". mcvuk.com. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  9. ^ Calvert, Justin (19 February 2004). "SCi acquires Pivotal Games". gamespot.com. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
  10. ^ Bramwell, Tom (29 September 2003). "SCi buys Pivotal". eurogamer.net. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
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