Gremlin Graphics Software Limited, later Gremlin Interactive Limited and ultimately Infogrames Studios Limited was a British

software house A software company is a company whose primary products are various forms of software, software technology, distribution, and software product development. They make up the software industry. Types There are a number of different types of softw ...

based in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

, working mostly in the home computer market. Like many software houses established in the 1980s, their primary market was the

8-bit In computer architecture, 8-bit Integer (computer science), integers or other Data (computing), data units are those that are 8 bits wide (1 octet (computing), octet). Also, 8-bit central processing unit (CPU) and arithmetic logic unit (ALU) arc ...

range of computers such as the

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as t ...

Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sin ...

, MSX,

Commodore 16 The Commodore 16 is a home computer made by Commodore International with a 6502-compatible 7501 or 8501 CPU, released in 1984 and intended to be an entry-level computer to replace the VIC-20. A cost-reduced version, the Commodore 116, was ...

and

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

. The company was acquired by French

video game publisher A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that have been developed either internally by the publisher or externally by a video game developer. They often finance the development, sometimes by paying a video game developer ( ...

Infogrames Atari SA (formerly Infogrames Entertainment SA) is a French video game holding company headquartered in Paris. Its subsidiaries include Atari Interactive and Atari, Inc. It is the current owner of the Atari brand through Atari Interactive. Bec ...

in 1999, and was renamed Infogrames Studios in 2000. Infogrames Studios closed down in 2003.

History

The company, originally a computer store called Just Micro, was established as a software house in 1984 with the name Gremlin Graphics Software Ltd by Ian Stewart and Kevin Norburn with US Gold's Geoff Brown owning 75% of the company until mid-1989. Gremlin's early success was based on games such as '' Wanted: Monty Mole'' for the

and '' Thing on a Spring'' for the

. In 1994, it was renamed as Gremlin Interactive, now concentrating on the 16-bit, PC and console market. Gremlin enjoyed major success with the ''

Zool ''Zool: Ninja of the Nth Dimension'' is a platform game written for the Amiga by Gremlin Graphics and published in 1992. It was marketed as a rival to Sega's '' Sonic the Hedgehog''. ''Zool'' was ported to other platforms and followed by '' ...

'' and ''

Premier Manager ''Premier Manager'' is a series of a football management video games started in 1992. Published by Gremlin Interactive, it was first developed by Realms of Fantasy, later passed to Spanish company Dinamic Multimedia. The later games were later pub ...

'' series in the early 1990s, and then with ''

Actua Soccer ''Actua Soccer'' (''VR Soccer'' in North America) is a sports video game developed and published by Gremlin Interactive for MS-DOS, PlayStation, and Sega Saturn. The game features a variety of teams and leagues to choose from, including nationa ...

'', the first

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

game in full 3D; other successful games included the '' Lotus'' racing series; a futuristic racing game, '' Motorhead''; a stunt car racing game, ''

Fatal Racing ''Fatal Racing'', known as ''Whiplash'' in North America, is a 3D stunt car racing video game developed and published by Gremlin Interactive in Europe in 1995 for MS-DOS, and published in 1996 by Interplay Productions in North America. In ''Fata ...

'' (1995); and the 1998 flight simulator '' Hardwar''. Following EA's success with the

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" ...

brand, Gremlin also released their own sports videogame series, adding

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

Tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

and

Ice Hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

to their ''

Actua Sports ''Actua Sports'' is a sports video game series published by Gremlin Interactive which competed with Electronic Arts EA Sports label during the second half of the 1990s, until Gremlin was acquired by Infogrames. The term "Actua" is a (seemingly ma ...

'' series. During this time, they used a '' motif'' from the Siegfried Funeral March from ''

Götterdämmerung ' (; ''Twilight of the Gods''), WWV 86D, is the last in Richard Wagner's cycle of four music dramas titled (''The Ring of the Nibelung'', or ''The Ring Cycle'' or ''The Ring'' for short). It received its premiere at the on 17 August 1876, as p ...

'' as introductory music. The company was floated on the stock market to raise funds. In 1997, Gremlin acquired

Imagitec Design Imagitec Design was a video games development company founded in 1989, based in the UK. The main person involved was Barry Leitch, who worked as a composer for many of the company's soundtracks. Imagitec Design interacted with other companies suc ...

and

DMA Design Rockstar North Limited (formerly DMA Design Limited) is a British video game development company and a studio of Rockstar Games based in Edinburgh. The company was founded as DMA Design in Dundee in 1987 by David Jones (video game developer), D ...

(creators of ''

Grand Theft Auto ''Grand Theft Auto'' (''GTA'') is a series of action-adventure games created by David Jones (video game developer), David Jones and Mike Dailly (game designer), Mike Dailly. Later titles were developed under the oversight of brothers Dan Hous ...

'' and ''

Lemmings A lemming is a small rodent, usually found in or near the Arctic in tundra biomes. Lemmings form the subfamily Arvicolinae (also known as Microtinae) together with voles and muskrats, which form part of the superfamily Muroidea, which also include ...

''). In 1999, they themselves were bought by

for around £24 million and renamed "Infogrames Sheffield House". Infogrames closed the studio in 2003. The building they latterly occupied near Devonshire Green has since been demolished when Infogrames Sheffield House was supposed to be renamed "Atari Sheffield House". In October 2003,

Zoo Digital ZOO Digital Group PLC is a provider of cloud software based subtitling, dubbing, and media localization services to the TV and movie industry. Its production facilities are located in El Segundo, Los Angeles; London and Sheffield, UK and Dubai ...

, the successor company to Gremlin, purchased the company's assets from the now-named

Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc. (1972–1992), Atari, Inc., ...

. Following the administration of Zoo Digital (later renamed Zushi Games), Gremlin Interactive's catalogue and name were bought up by Ian Stewart's new company Urbanscan.

Key staff

Gremlin staff had included: *

Kevin Bulmer Kevin Bulmer (1962, in Solihull – 12 November 2011, in Tettenhall), also known as Kev Bulmer, was an English artist, game designer and president of the graphic design and video game company Synthetic Dimensions, which was co-founded by him in 198 ...

- Designer/graphics artist * Jon Harrison - Designer/graphics artist * Gary Priest - Programmer * Bill Allen - Programmer * Richard Stevenson - Programmer * David Martin - Marketing Director * Ben Daglish - Outsourced Musician * Ade Carless - Designer/graphics artist * Shaun McClure - Graphics artist / Art Resource Manager *

Antony Crowther Antony Crowther is a former designer, programmer, and musician of Commodore 64 games. During the 1980s he worked for Alligata, Gremlin Graphics and later his own company, Wizard Development. Career The first computer game he created was a versio ...

('Ratt') - Designer, programmer * Asad Habib - Lead Tester * Paul Whitehead - Tester / Designer * Ian Stewart - Managing director * Kevin Norburn - Operations director * Patrick Phelan - Software manager/sound engineer * Chris Harvey - Lead console programmer * Wayne Laybourn - Artist * Chris Shrigley - Designer / Programmer * Peter Harrap - Programmer * Chris Kerry - Programmer * Shaun Hollingworth - Programmer * MicroProjects Ltd (Jason Perkins, Mark Rogers, Anthony Clarke) * Richard Hall - Production Manager

Video games

As Gremlin Interactive

*''Monty Mole'' series (1984-1990) **'' Wanted: Monty Mole'' (1984) **'' Monty Is Innocent'' (1985) **'' Monty on the Run'' (1985) **''

Auf Wiedersehen Monty ''Auf Wiedersehen Monty'' (German for "Goodbye Monty") is a computer game for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, MSX and Commodore 16. Released in 1987, it is the fourth game in the ''Monty Mole'' series. It was written by Peter Harrap ...

'' (1987) **''

Moley Christmas ''Moley Christmas'' is a video game released in 1987 for the Sinclair Spectrum. It is the fifth game in the ''Monty Mole'' series and a sequel to the 1987 video game '' Auf Wiedersehen Monty''. It was available exclusively on the cover of ''You ...

'' (1987) **''

Impossamole ''Impossamole'' is a platform game developed by Core Design for the Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum. It was released in 1990 and published by Gremlin Graphics. NEC Technologies published it on TurboGrafx-16 the foll ...

'' (1990) *'' Potty Pigeon'' (1984) *'' Bounder'' (1985) **''Re-Bounder'' (1987) *''

Grumpy Gumphrey Supersleuth ''Grumpy Gumphrey Supersleuth'', often known simply as ''Super Sleuth'',The game was packaged as ''Grumpy Gumphrey Supersleuth'', but the in-game title screen used 'Super Sleuth', as seen here in the video walkthrough. https://www.youtube.com/watc ...

'' (1985) *'' Gauntlet'' (1985) **'' Gauntlet: The Deeper Dungeons'' (1987) *'' Thing on a Spring'' (1985) *'' Zone X'' (1985) *''

Jack the Nipper ''Jack the Nipper'' is a video game by Gremlin Graphics released in 1986 for ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, and MSX. It was followed by a sequel, '' Jack the Nipper II: In Coconut Capers''. Gameplay ''Jack the Nipper'' is a side-view ...

'' (1986) **'' Jack the Nipper II: In Coconut Capers'' (1987) *''

Trailblazer A trailblazer is a person who is paving the way in their particular field for future generations. Trailblazer may refer to: Sports * Derby Trailblazers, a British semi-professional basketball team * North Carolina Trailblazers, a US women's rec ...

'' (1986) **'' Cosmic Causeway: Trailblazer II'' (1987) *''

Alternative World Games ''Alternative World Games'' (known as ''Sports-A-Roni'' in North America) is a video game developed by Novotrade Software and published by Gremlin Interactive in 1987. It is a parody of the Epyx ''Games series''. There are 8 different events whi ...

'' (1987) *''

Basil the Great Mouse Detective ''Basil the Great Mouse Detective'' is a Platform game, platform, Action-adventure game, action-adventure game designed by Bob Armour and published by Gremlin Graphics in 1987 for the Amstrad CPC, Atari 8-bit family, Atari 8-bit and Commodore 64 ...

'' (1987) *'' Deflektor'' (1987) *'' Gary Lineker's Superstar Soccer'' (1987) *'' Technocop'' (1988) *''Motor Massacre'' (1988) *'' Dark Fusion'' (1988) *'' Mickey Mouse: The Computer Game'' (1988) *''

The Muncher ''The Muncher'' is a video game for the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum that was released in 1988. It was produced by Beam Software and released by Gremlin Graphics. The game involves the monster from ''Chewits'' attacking various buildings and peop ...

'' (1988) *'' Axel's Magic Hammer'' (1989) *'' Federation of Free Traders'' (1989) *'' H.A.T.E.: Hostile All-Terrain Encounter'' (1989) *''

Switchblade A switchblade (aka switch knife, automatic knife, pushbutton knife, ejector knife, flick knife, Stiletto, flick blade, or spring knife (Sprenger,Benson, Ragnar (1989). ''Switchblade: The Ace of Blades''. Paladin Press. pp. 1–14. . The sw ...

'' (1989) **'' Switchblade II'' (1991) *'' Lotus'' series (1990-1992) **''Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge'' (1990) **''Lotus Turbo Challenge 2'' (1991) **''Lotus III: The Ultimate Challenge'' (1992) *'' Skidz (1990) *'' Super Cars'' (1990) **''

Super Cars II ''Super Cars II'' is a 1991 top-view racing game developed by Magnetic Fields, and published by Gremlin Graphics Software Ltd. The game was available for the Amiga and then the Atari ST. It is the sequel to the 1990 game '' Super Cars''. The g ...

'' (1991) *''

Toyota Celica GT Rally ''Toyota Celica GT Rally'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''GT Rally'') is a racing computer game developed and published by Gremlin Graphics Software (later Gremlin Interactive) released for the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, and ZX Spectrum. The game consists ...

'' (1990) *''

Venus The Flytrap ''Venus the Flytrap'' is a post-apocalyptic side-scrolling video game '' A side-scrolling video game (alternatively side-scroller), is a game viewed from a side-view camera angle where the screen follows the player as they move left or right. ...

'' (1990) *''

HeroQuest ''HeroQuest'', sometimes written as ''Hero Quest'', is an adventure board game created by Milton Bradley in conjunction with the British company Games Workshop. The game was loosely based around archetypes of fantasy role-playing games: the ...

'' (1991) **'' HeroQuest II: Legacy of Sorasil'' (1994) *''Spacewrecked: 14 Billion Light Years from Earth'' (1990) *'' Utopia: The Creation of a Nation'' (1991) *''

Harlequin Harlequin (; it, Arlecchino ; lmo, Arlechin, Bergamasque dialect, Bergamasque pronunciation ) is the best-known of the ''zanni'' or comic servant characters from the Italian language, Italian ''commedia dell'arte'', associated with the city o ...

'' (1992) *'' Jeep Jamboree: Off Road Adventure'' (1992) *'' Nigel Mansell's World Championship Racing'' (1992) *'' Plan 9 from Outer Space'' (1992) *''

'' series (1992-2000) **''

'' (1992) **'' Premier Manager 2'' (1993) **'' Premier Manager 3'' (1994) **''Premier Manager 97'' (1996) **''Premier Manager 98'' (1997) **'' Premier Manager: Ninety Nine'' (1999) *''

Space Crusade ''Space Crusade'' is an adventure board game produced by Milton Bradley together with Games Workshop and was first made in 1990. It was produced in the UK and available in some other countries including Finland, Ireland, France, Spain, Denmark ...

'' (1992) *''

Top Gear Top Gear may refer to: * "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission Television * ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme * ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the or ...

'' (1992) **''

Top Gear 2 ''Top Gear 2'' (released as ''Top Racer 2'' in Japan) is the sequel to the 1992 racing game, racer ''Top Gear (video game), Top Gear''. The game was first released in August 1993 for the SNES, later in May 24, 1994 for the Sega Genesis and in 1994 ...

'' (1993) **''

Top Gear 3000 ''Top Gear 3000'', later released in Japan as , is a racing video game developed by Gremlin Interactive and published by Kemco for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the third game in the original ''Top Gear (video game series), Top Ge ...

'' (1995) *''

'' (1992) **''

Zool 2 ''Zool 2'' is a Side-scrolling video game, side-scrolling Platform game, platform video game originally developed by The Warp Factory and published by Gremlin Interactive, Gremlin Graphics for the Amiga in November 1993. It is the sequel to the or ...

'' (1993) *''

Jungle Strike ''Jungle Strike'' (subtitled ''The Sequel to Desert Strike'', or ''Desert Strike part II'' in Japan) is a video game developed and published by Electronic Arts in 1993 for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. The game was later released on several othe ...

'' (1993) *'' Litil Divil'' (1993) *'' Full Throttle: All-American Racing'' (1994) *''

K240 ''K240'' is a real-time strategy video game published by Gremlin Graphics and released for the Amiga home computer in 1994. It is a sequel to the 1991 game '' Utopia: The Creation of a Nation''. Plot Based in a sector of deep space called K240 ...

'' (1994) *'' Newman/Haas IndyCar featuring Nigel Mansell'' (1994) *''

Race Days ''Race Days'' is a 1994 racing video game, racing video game for the Game Boy, which is essentially a compilation of the video games ''Dirty Racing'' (Japan-exclusive) and ''Jeep Jamboree: Off Road Adventure'' (North America-exclusive); albeit wit ...

'' (1994) *'' Shadow Fighter'' (1994) *''

'' series (1995-1999) **''

'' (1995) **'' Actua Golf'' (1996) **''

Actua Soccer 2 ''Actua Soccer 2'' (''Fox Sports Soccer '99'' in North America) is a sports video game developed and published by Gremlin Interactive for PlayStation and Microsoft Windows.Pixel Games UKannounced they would be rereleasing the game via Steam in Oct ...

'' (1997) **''

Actua Golf 2 ''Actua Golf 2'' (''Fox Sports Golf '99'' in North America) is a sports video game developed and published by Gremlin Interactive for PlayStation and Microsoft Windows. Development of the game was underway as of August 1997, and it was released in ...

'' (1998) **''Actua Ice Hockey'' (1998) **''Actua Tennis'' (1998) **''Actua Soccer 3'' (1998) **''

Actua Pool ''Actua Pool'' is a sports simulation video game developed by British companies Gremlin Interactive and Mirage Ltd as part of their highly successful '' Actua Sports'' series of sport simulators of the mid-to-late 1990s. ''Actua Pool'', a pool ...

'' (1999) **''Actua Ice Hockey 2'' (1999) **''Actua Golf 3'' (1999) **''

UEFA Euro 96 England ''UEFA Euro 96 England'' is an association football video game developed by Gremlin Interactive and published by Sega for MS-DOS and the Sega Saturn in 1996. The title is an officially licensed tie in with the football tournament of the same nam ...

'' (1996) *''

'' (1995) *'' Loaded'' (1995) **''

Re-Loaded ''Re-Loaded'' is a science fiction-themed top-down multidirectional shooter developed by Gremlin Interactive and published by Interplay. A sequel to '' Loaded'', it was released in 1996 for the MS-DOS and PlayStation, and later on PlayStation ...

'' (1996) *'' Slipstream 5000'' (1995) *'' Normality'' (1996) *'' Hardcore 4X4'' (1996) *''

Fragile Allegiance ''Fragile Allegiance'' is an open-ended 4X real-time strategy (RTS) game from Gremlin Interactive, released in 1996 in video gaming, 1996 for MS-DOS and Windows 95. The game begins on May 25, 2496, as the player begins their employment with Tetr ...

'' (1996) *''

Realms of the Haunting ''Realms of the Haunting'' is a first-person adventure shooter game developed by Gremlin Interactive and published by Interplay Productions. It was released in 1997 for MS-DOS compatible operating systems. The 3D engine used in this game was bor ...

'' (1997) *''

Monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...

'' (1997) *'' Buggy'' (1998) *'' Motorhead'' (1998) *'' N2O'' (1998) *''

Body Harvest ''Body Harvest'' is an action-adventure video game for the Nintendo 64 video game console, developed by DMA Design. It was intended to be a Nintendo 64 launch title, but was delayed due to its original publisher, Nintendo, having issues with th ...

'' (1998) *'' Hardwar'' (1998) *'' Wild Metal Country'' (1999) *''

Soulbringer ''Soulbringer'' is a fantasy RPG developed by Gremlin Interactive and published by Interplay Entertainment and Infogrames in 2000. It was later packed and shipped in combination with Interplay's '' Planescape: Torment''. Plot It starts off wit ...

'' (2000)

As Infogrames Sheffield House

References

External links

Wayback Archive

Gremlin Interactive profile
from

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...

{{Authority control 1984 establishments in England 2003 disestablishments in England Defunct video game companies of the United Kingdom Video game companies established in 1984 Video game companies disestablished in 2003 Defunct companies based in Sheffield Video game development companies