Titus Interactive SA,Contact
. Titus Interactive. 3 June 2004. Retrieved on 4 September 2012. "Titus Interactive SA : Parc de l'Esplanade 12, rue Enrico Fermi 77462 Lagny sur Marne Cedex. FRANCE" known as Titus France SA until March 1999,
" Titus Games. 30 June 1998. Retrieved on 4 September 2012. "310 Avenue Daniel Perdrige, 93370 Montfermeil".Also Known As
. Moby Games. Retrieved on 15 October 2020. was a French

software publisher A software publisher is a publishing company in the software industry between the developer and the distributor. In some companies, two or all three of these roles may be combined (and indeed, may reside in a single person, especially in the case o ...

that produced and published

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

s for various platforms. Its head office was located in Parc de l'Esplanade in Lagny sur Marne in Greater Paris. At one time, it was instead located in

Montfermeil Montfermeil () is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Montfermeil is famous as the location of Thénardiers' inn in ''Les Misérables''. It has made the headlines due to troubles in its soc ...

, also in Greater Paris. The company's mascot was Titus, the title character of ''

Titus the Fox ''Titus the Fox: To Marrakech and Back'' is a side-scrolling platform game developed by Titus France for the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, and MS-DOS. The game was originally released in 1991 under the name ''Lagaf': Les Aventures de Moktar — ...

''.

History

The company was founded by brothers Eric Caen and Hervé Caen in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in 1985. In 1991, Titus purchased

Palace Software Palace Software was a British video game publisher and developer during the 1980s based in London, England. It was notable for the ''Barbarian'' and ''Cauldron'' series of games for 8-bit home computer platforms, in particular the ZX Spectrum, ...

, the gaming division of the Palace Group. In 1998, the company purchased the developers

BlueSky Software BlueSky Software was an American video game developer based in California. Formed in 1988, BlueSky closed in March 2001, when parent company Titus Interactive was in financial trouble. The BlueSky trademark continued to be owned by Titus Interac ...

and Digital Integration Ltd. In late-1999, the company acquired shares in struggling publisher

Interplay Entertainment Interplay Entertainment Corp. is an American video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher based in Los Angeles. The company was founded in 1983 as Interplay Productions by developers Brian Fargo, Jay Patel, Troy Worrell, and Rebecca ...

, including a stake in publisher/distributor

Virgin Interactive Virgin Interactive Entertainment (later renamed Avalon Interactive) was the video game publishing division of British conglomerate the Virgin Group. It developed and published games for major platforms and employed developers, including Westwo ...

. In 2001, Titus took the control of Interplay. In May 2001, Titus signed a distribution deal with

Microids Microids (formerly Microïds) is a French video game developer and publisher based in Paris. Founded in 1985 by Elliot Grassiano, it attained early success with games published through Loriciel in France and other partners (including Activisio ...

for the United States. One year later, Titus Japan K.K. signed a similar distribution deal with

Konami , is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company, video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machin ...

for Japan. In June 2004, Titus filed for

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

, declaring an unseeable future for Interplay. On January 9, 2005, a French district commercial court declared Titus bankrupt with a €33 million (US$43.8 million) debt. Titus' French subsidiaries were later closed down, while their assets were soon purchased by Interplay.

Games

Titus began releasing titles for home computers such as the

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

and PC before moving on to consoles like the

Sega Master System The is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was originally a remodeled export version of the Sega Mark III, the third iteration of the SG-1000 series of consoles, which was released in Japan in 1985 and ...

Super Nintendo Entertainment System The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Eur ...

Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same ...

and

Game Boy Color The (commonly abbreviated as GBC) is a handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on October 21, 1998 and to international markets that November. It is the successor to the Game Boy and is part of the Game ...

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

Sega Dreamcast The is a home video game console released by Sega on November 27, 1998, in Japan; September 9, 1999, in North America; and October 14, 1999, in Europe. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, preceding Sony's PlayStation 2, Nint ...

and

Nintendo 64 The (N64) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo. The successor to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, it was released on June 23, 1996, in Japan, on September 29, 1996, in North America, and on March 1, 1997, in Europe and Au ...

, followed by publishing titles for the

GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

and

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...

. Titus designed games such as '' Virtual Kasparov'', ''

Automobili Lamborghini Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. () is an Italian brand and manufacturer of luxury sports cars and SUVs based in Sant'Agata Bolognese. The company is owned by the Volkswagen Group through its subsidiary Audi. Ferruccio Lamborghini (1916–1993) ...

'', ''

Virtual Chess 64 ''Virtual Chess 64'' is a chess simulation game for the Nintendo 64. It was released in 1998. It is the third and final game in the '' Virtual Chess'' series. The game features no true "completion" in the form of a goal or a score, so one could the ...

'', ''

Roadsters __NOTOC__ Roadster may refer to: Transportation * Roadster (automobile), an open, two-seat, often sporty car ** Roadster utility, an automobile with an open-topped roadster body and a rear cargo bed * Roadster (bicycle), a utilitarian bicycle, typ ...

'' (the

version), ''

Incredible Crisis ''Incredible Crisis'', known in Japan as , is a PlayStation (console), PlayStation video game developed by Polygon Magic. The game was published in Japan by Tokuma Shoten on June 24, 1999. Translated versions were released by Titus Interactive in ...

'' (developed by Polygon Magic), ''

Prehistorik Man ''Prehistorik Man'' is a platforming video game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System developed by Titus Interactive and published by Kemco in Japan in 1995 as ''P-Man'' and by Titus France elsewhere in 1996. It is a sequel to '' Prehisto ...

'' and ''

Lamborghini American Challenge ''Lamborghini American Challenge'' (previously released as ''Crazy Cars III'') is a 1994 racing video game developed and published by Titus France for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Super NES, Amiga, Amiga CD32, Atari ST, Commodore 64, G ...

'', that were given positive reviews. Titus however was also involved in the creation of games that were notable due to their negative reception. ''

Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...

'' for the Nintendo 64 was notorious for its negative status among gamers.

GameTrailers ''GameTrailers'' (''GT'') was an American video gaming website created by Geoffrey R. Grotz and Brandon Jones in 2002. The website specialized in multimedia content, including trailers and gameplay footage of upcoming and recently released v ...

called it the worst game of all time. As of 2018, it holds a score of 23% at

GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...

. Similarly, the 2003 game ''

RoboCop ''RoboCop'' is a 1987 American science fiction action film directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner. The film stars Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Daniel O'Herlihy, Ronny Cox, Kurtwood Smith, and Miguel Ferre ...

'' also received negative reviews. GameSpot gave it 2.2/10 saying "''RoboCop'' has a bevy of horrible problems that render the game practically unplayable".

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

* ''Crazy Cars'' * ''Fire and Forget'' * ''Galactic Conqueror'' * ''Off Shore Warrior''

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

* ''Crazy Cars 2'' * '' Titan'' * ''

Knight Force ''Knight Force'' is a video game developed by Titus France for the Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Amiga, IBM PC compatibles, and the ZX Spectrum. It was published in 1989. Plot The player is a champion who must travel to five different time zones in or ...

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

* ''Crime Does not Pay'' * ''Dark Century'' * ''

Dick Tracy ''Dick Tracy'' is an American comic strip featuring Dick Tracy (originally Plainclothes Tracy), a tough and intelligent police detective created by Chester Gould. It made its debut on Sunday, October 4, 1931, in the ''Detroit Mirror'', and it ...

'' * '' Fire & Forget II'' * ''Un Indien dans la ville'' (''Little Indian: An Indian in the City'' for US release), developed by TF1 Video and Titus * ''Wild Streets''

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

* ''

The Blues Brothers The Blues Brothers are an American blues and soul revivalist band founded in 1978 by comedians Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as part of a musical sketch on ''Saturday Night Live''. Belushi and Aykroyd fronted the band, in character, respective ...

'' * ''

Prehistorik ''Prehistorik'' is a platform game developed by Titus Interactive for the Amiga, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC, MS-DOS, and Commodore CDTV. Titus Interactive also published it in 1991. A sequel, '' Prehistorik 2'', was released for MS-DOS and Amstrad CPC ...

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

* ''Battlestorm'' * '' Crazy Cars 3'' * ''

'' (aka ''Moktar'')

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

* '' Ardy Lightfoot'' (developed by

ASCII ASCII ( ), abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. Because of ...

and published by Titus in North America) * '' Prehistorik 2'' * '' Super Cauldron''

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

* ''

Monster Max ''Monster Max'' is a 1994 action-adventure puzzle video game developed by Rare and published by Titus France in Europe for the Game Boy. The player is the titular aspiring rock star, who, in an attempt to fight King Krond who bans all music, trav ...

'' * ''

'' * '' Quik the Thunder Rabbit''

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

* ''Virtual Chess'' * ''Virtual Chess II'' * ''Metal Rage'' * ''

The Brainies ''The Brainies'' is a puzzle game released on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System console and Atari ST, Amiga, Apple IIgs, Macintosh, and Amstrad CPC computers. Even though its European title is ''Tiny Skweeks'', the connection to the popular ...

'' * ''

Incantation An incantation, a spell, a charm, an enchantment or a bewitchery, is a magical formula intended to trigger a magical effect on a person or objects. The formula can be spoken, sung or chanted. An incantation can also be performed during ceremo ...

'' * ''

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology), ...

'' (

SNES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Euro ...

version) * '' Power Piggs of the Dark Age'' * ''

'' * '' Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame'' (SNES version)

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

* ''

'' * ''

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

* ''

Quest for Camelot ''Quest for Camelot'' (released internationally as ''The Magic Sword: Quest for Camelot'') is a 1998 American animated musical fantasy film produced by Warner Bros. Feature Animation and directed by Frederik Du Chau and very loosely based on the ...

'' (published by Nintendo America Inc.)

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

* '' Rival Realms'' (developed by Activ Pub) * ''

'' * ''

Evil Zone ''Evil Zone'', stylized as ''EVIL Z♀NE'' in the PAL region, is a fighting game developed by Yuke's Future Media Creators for the PlayStation in 1999. The player can choose from ten characters to fight in several game modes including story mode, ...

'' (developed by YUKE's Future Media Creators) * '' Xena: Warrior Princess: The Talisman of Fate'' (developed by Saffire)

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

* ''

'' * ''

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys ''Hercules: The Legendary Journeys'' is an American television series filmed in New Zealand, based on the tales of the classical Greek culture hero Heracles (Hercules was his Roman analogue). Starring Kevin Sorbo as Hercules and Michael Hurst as ...

'' * '' Carmageddon 64'' * ''

Blues Brothers 2000 ''Blues Brothers 2000'' is a 1998 American musical comedy film directed by John Landis from a screenplay written by Landis and Dan Aykroyd, both of whom were also producers. The film, starring Aykroyd and John Goodman, is a sequel to the 1980 fi ...

'' * ''

'' (cancelled PlayStation video game) * '' Kao the Kangaroo'' (Dreamcast version) * ''

F/A-18E Super Hornet The Boeing F/A-18E and F/A-18F Super Hornet are twin-engine, carrier-capable, multirole fighter aircraft variants based on the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet. The F/A-18E single-seat and F/A-18F tandem-seat variants are larger and more adv ...

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

* '' Kao the Kangaroo'' (PC and GBA versions) * ''Rox'' (GBA version only) * '' Top Gun: Combat Zones'' (PS2 version) * '' Top Gun: Firestorm'' * '' Virtual Kasparov'' * ''

Original War ''Original War'' is a real-time strategy video game developed by Czech company Altar Interactive and released by Virgin Interactive on June 15, 2001. It was re-released in the United Kingdom under the budget Sold Out label in 2004, and was later ...

'' (published under

name, Titus distributing the game in North America) * ''

Worms World Party ''Worms World Party'' is a 2001 artillery turn-based tactics video game. It is the sequel to ''Worms Armageddon'' in the '' Worms series'' by Team17. As with the previous games in the series, players take turns controlling their teams and using a ...

'' * '' Exhibition of Speed'' * ''X'Treme Roller'' * ''

Jimmy White's Cueball World ''Jimmy White's Cueball World'' is a sports simulation video game published by Virgin Interactive as the sequel to '' Jimmy White's 2: Cueball'', itself a sequel to '' Jimmy White's 'Whirlwind' Snooker''. The development team once again being led ...

'' * '' Codename: Outbreak'' (published under

name; Titus distributing the game in North America) * ''Sgt. Cruise'' * '' Xena: Warrior Princess'' * ''Planet Monsters'' * ''Hands of Time'' * '' Stunt GP''

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

* ''Nightstone'' (published under

name, Titus distributing the game in North America) * '' Virtual Kasparov'' (Game Boy Advance version) * ''Tir et But: Edition Champions du Monde'' * ''

Barbarian A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either Civilization, uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by som ...

'' (PlayStation 2 version) * '' Top Gun: Combat Zones'' (GameCube version) * ''Top Gun: Firestorm Advance'' * ''Downforce''

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

* ''

'' (Xbox and GameCube versions) * '' Top Gun: Combat Zones'' (Europe-only PC version) * ''

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

* '' Top Gun: Combat Zones'' (Game Boy Advance version)

Subsidiaries

Titus had several subsidiaries. The United States subsidiary, Titus Software Corporation, had its head office in Chatsworth,

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. The Japanese subsidiary, Titus Japan K.K., had its head office on the eighth floor of the Kotubuki Dogenzaka Building in

Dōgenzaka is a district of Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. As of October 2020, the population of this district is 591. The postal code for Dōgenzaka is 150–0043. Local landmarks here include 109 (department store), Shibuya 109, Bunkamura and the Statue of Hac ...

( JA),

Shibuya Shibuya ( 渋谷区 ''Shibuya-ku'') is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. As a major commercial and finance center, it houses two of the busiest railway stations in the world, Shinjuku Station (southern half) and Shibuya Station. As of April 1 ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. The UK subsidiary, Titus Software UK Limited, had its head office in

Leamington Spa Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply Leamington (), is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Priors, it grew into a spa town in the 18th century following ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

.Contacts
. Titus Interactive. 3 February 2002. Retrieved on 4 September 2012.

References

External links

Titus Interactive
(Archive)
Titus Games
(Archive) {{Authority control Defunct video game companies of France Video game companies established in 1985 Video game companies disestablished in 2005 Video game development companies Video game publishers French companies established in 1985 French companies disestablished in 2005