Personal Software Services (PSS) was a British software company based in

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

, founded by Gary Mays and Richard Cockayne in 1981. The company was acquired by

Mirrorsoft Mirrorsoft was a British video game publisher founded by Jim Mackonochie as a division of Mirror Group Newspapers. The company was active between 1983 and 1991, and shut down completely in early 1992. History In the early 1980s, Jim Mackono ...

in 1987. PSS produced video games for 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 ...

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 ...

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...

Atari ST The Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the Atari 8-bit family. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985 and was widely available in July. It was the first pers ...

Atari 8-bit family The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

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 ...

Oric Oric was the name used by UK-based Tangerine Computer Systems for a series of 6502-based home computers sold in the 1980s, primarily in Europe. With the success of the ZX Spectrum from Sinclair Research, Tangerine's backers suggested a hom ...

and

IBM PC compatible IBM PC compatible computers are similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT, all from computer giant IBM, that are able to use the same software and expansion cards. Such computers were referred to as PC clones, IBM clones or IBM PC clones. ...

s. PSS was known for strategic wargames, such as '' Theatre Europe'' and '' Falklands '82''. Several games produced by the French company

ERE Informatique ERE Informatique was one of the first French video game companies, founded in 1983 by , joined a year later by Philippe Ulrich. The company hired freelance game programmers that received royalties for their creations. History Initially, the com ...

were distributed in Britain by PSS, including '' Get Dexter''.

History

Personal Software Services was founded in

, England, by Gary Mays and Richard Cockayne in 1981. The company had a partnership with French video game developer

, and published localised versions of their products to the United Kingdom. The ''Strategic Wargames'' series was conceptualised by software designer Alan Steel in 1984. During development of these titles, Steel would often research the topic of the upcoming game and pass on the findings to other associates in Coventry and London. Some games of the series were met with controversy upon release, such as ''Theatre Europe''. In 1983, the company received recognition for being "one of the top software houses" in the United Kingdom, and was a finalist for

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

's ''New Business Enterprise Award'' for that year. In 1988, Cockayne took a decision to alter their products for release on 16-bit consoles, as he found that smaller 8-bit home computers such as the

lacked the processing power for larger strategy games. Cockayne claimed that PSS were not pulling out of the 8-bit market, but no more 8-bit games were released post-1988. Following years of successful sales throughout the mid 1980s, Personal Software Services experienced financial difficulties, in which Cockayne admitted that "he took his eye off the ball." The company was acquired by

in February 1987, and was later dispossessed by the company due to strains of debt.

Games

*'' Blade Alley'', 1983 *''

Metro Blitz Metro, short for metropolitan (disambiguation), metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a ...

'', 1983 *''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 1983 *'' Cosmic Split'', 1983 *'' Light Cycle'', 1983 *''Centipede'', 1983 *''Invaders'', 1983 *''Hopper'', 1983 *''The Ultra'', 1983 *'' The Battle For Midway'', 1984 *'' Deep Space'', 1984 *''

Frank 'n' Stein Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Curre ...

'', 1984 *'' Les Flics'', 1984 *'' Maxima'', 1984 *'' Xavior'', 1984 *'' The Covenant'', 1985 *''

Macadam Bumper ''Macadam Bumper'' (also released as ''Pinball Wizard'') is a video pinball simulation construction set developed by ERE Informatique in France. It was first released for 8-bit computers in 1985, the Atari ST in 1986 and MS-DOS in 1987. The Atari ...

'', 1985 *'' Swords and Sorcery'', 1985 *'' Theatre Europe'', 1985 *''

Annals of Rome ''Annals of Rome'' is a turn-based strategy video game developed and published by Personal Software Services. It was first released in the United Kingdom for the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and Atari ST in 1986. It was then released in Germany for ...

'', 1986 *'' Falklands '82'', 1986 *'' Get Dexter'', 1986 *''

Iwo Jima Iwo Jima (, also ), known in Japan as , is one of the Japanese Volcano Islands and lies south of the Bonin Islands. Together with other islands, they form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The highest point of Iwo Jima is Mount Suribachi at high. ...

'', 1986

After Mirrorsoft acquisition

*''

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...

'', 1987 *'' Battlefield Germany'', 1987 *'' Bismarck'', 1987 *'' Legend of the Sword'', 1987 *''

Pegasus Bridge Pegasus Bridge, originally called the Bénouville Bridge after the neighbouring village, is a road crossing over the Caen Canal, between Caen and Ouistreham in Normandy. The original bridge, built in 1934, is now a war memorial and is the cent ...

'', 1987 *'' Sorcerer Lord'', 1987 *''

Tobruk Tobruk or Tobruck (; grc, Ἀντίπυργος, ''Antipyrgos''; la, Antipyrgus; it, Tobruch; ar, طبرق, Tubruq ''Ṭubruq''; also transliterated as ''Tobruch'' and ''Tubruk'') is a port city on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near th ...

'', 1987 *'' Firezone'', 1988 *''

Austerlitz Austerlitz may refer to: History * Battle of Austerlitz, an 1805 victory by the French Grand Army of Napoleon Bonaparte Places * Austerlitz, German name for Slavkov u Brna in the Czech Republic, which gave its name to the Battle of Austerlitz a ...

'', 1989 *'' Final Frontier'', 1989 *'' Waterloo'', 1989 *''

Battle Master ''Battle Master'' is a 1990 fantasy action adventure game designed by Mike Simpson and Simon Jones for PSS and distributed by Mirrorsoft. The game is a fantasy adventure in which the player controls a champion who must battle evil forces to con ...

'', 1990 *'' The Final Battle'', 1990 *'' Champion of the Raj'', 1991 *''

J. R. R. Tolkien's Riders of Rohan ''J. R. R. Tolkien's Riders of Rohan'' is a computer video game from 1991 based upon the fictional War of the Ring set in the Middle-earth world created by J. R. R. Tolkien, centered in The Lord of the Rings novels. The massive-scale simulation ta ...

'', 1991

References

External links

PSS at gamefaqs.comPSS at World of Spectrum
{{Authority control Defunct video game companies of the United Kingdom Video game companies established in 1981 Video game companies disestablished in 1988 Defunct companies of England Companies based in Coventry 1981 establishments in England 1988 disestablishments in England British companies disestablished in 1988 British companies established in 1981