VIS Entertainment Limited (formerly known as VIS Interactive) was a British

video game developer A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large ...

based in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, Scotland. The company was founded in 1996 by Chris van der Kuyl and Peter Baillie. In April 2003, VIS Entertainment acquired

BAM! Entertainment BAM! Entertainment, Inc. (formerly Bay Area Multimedia, Inc.) was an American video game publisher based in San Jose, California, that was founded by Ray Musci in October 1999. BAM!'s partnership with Cartoon Network in 2000 led to the developme ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

-based development studio, though, after financial struggles, closed it down in September that year. A studio on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...

was closed in August and several jobs were cut from their VIS iTV

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

in November. VIS Entertainment was acquired by BAM! Entertainment in May 2004, which itself struggled financially. As a result, in April 2005, the company was placed into

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative assistant, Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an admini ...

, closed its

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

studio and laid off 52 of 96 staff. Remaining assets were sold off to various companies, and VIS Entertainment

liquidated Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end in Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and many other countries. The assets and property of the company are redistrib ...

in March 2007.

History

VIS Entertainment was founded as VIS Interactive in 1996 by Chris van der Kuyl, alongside Peter Baillie and some former staff from

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 ...

, as well as "other techy people" from outside the

video game industry The video game industry encompasses the development, marketing, and monetization of video games. The industry encompasses dozens of job disciplines and thousands of jobs worldwide. The video game industry has grown from niches to mainstream. , ...

. A

native, van der Kuyl headed the company as

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

. In 2000, VIS Interactive was renamed VIS Entertainment. In April 2003, the company acquired

's London-based development studio, however, following several delays and cancellations to that studio's projects, it was announced in September that year that the studio would close following the completion of its remaining projects. Another studio, located on the

, was closed in August 2003. VIS iTV, a Dundee-based

between VIS Entertainment and cable operator

Telewest Telewest (previously Telewest Broadband and Telewest Communications) was a cable internet, broadband internet, telephone supplier and cable television provider in the United Kingdom. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange, and was also o ...

, laid off 75% of its staff in November 2003. Following these layoffs, Jane Karowoski,

chief operating officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the "C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if t ...

for VIS Entertainment, announced that she would be resigning from the company. The following the December, VIS iTV announced that their ongoing "interactive virtual

horseracing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic pr ...

" project, '' I-Race'', was to debut on the newly established . That plan never materialised, and the venture was placed into

in December 2004. California-based

Bellwether Group A bellwether is a leader or an indicator of trends.bellwether
" ''Cambridge Dictionary''. Ret ...

acquired VIS iTV and ''I-Race'' in January 2005 and hired five of its previous staff. On 18 February 2004, BAM! Entertainment announced that they were to acquire VIS Entertainment and State of Emergency Development, a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...

set up to fund development for ''

State of Emergency 2 ''State of Emergency 2'' is a 2006 third-person shooter video game developed by DC Studios and released exclusively for the PlayStation 2. It is the sequel to 2002's ''State of Emergency'' and takes place four years after the first game. It featu ...

'', in exchange for shares valued around . The acquisition was completed on 25 May 2004. VIS Entertainment entered administration on 7 April 2005. Subsequently, the company's Dundee-based studio was shut down, with all 26 staff made redundant. Another 28 positions were cancelled in the company's headquarters and last remaining studio in Edinburgh, with the last 42 "sent home" during the process of administration. The administration was handled by Tom Maclennan and Kenny Craig of

Tenon Recovery Tenon may refer to: * one of the two elements of a mortise and tenon joint * Tenon capsule, a membrane around the eyeball * Tenon Group, a chartered accountancy company in the United Kingdom * Tenon Limited, a New Zealand-based publicly traded c ...

. VIS Entertainment founder van der Kuyl went on to found 4J Studios on 19 April, twelve days after VIS Entertainment went into administration.

DC Studios DC Studios is an American film and television studio that is a division of Warner Bros., which is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. It is dedicated to the production of films, series, and animations based on characters from DC Comics, am ...

announced on 1 May 2005 that they had acquired the rights to ''State of Emergency 2'' for an undisclosed sum, and that they would re-employ between 10 and 40 of VIS Entertainment's staff. VIS Entertainment finally

on 20 March 2007.

Games

References

{{Authority control Defunct companies of Scotland Video game companies established in 1996 Video game companies disestablished in 2007 Defunct video game companies of the United Kingdom Video game development companies Companies that have entered administration in the United Kingdom 1996 establishments in Scotland 2007 disestablishments in Scotland