Empire 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 ...

and

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

based in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

. Founded in 1987 by Ian Higgins and Simon Jeffrey, it was acquired by Silverstar Holdings in 2006 and went out of business in 2009.

History

Empire Interactive was established by Ian Higgins (

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 especiall ...

) and Simon Jeffrey (

managing director 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 especiall ...

) in 1987. In November 2000, the company acquired development studio

Razorworks Razorworks was a video game developer based in Kidlington, United Kingdom. Razorworks was founded in August 1996 and was owned by the video game publisher Empire Interactive. The Razorworks studio was closed in July 2008 due to Empire Interactive' ...

. As well as full priced titles, Empire also had a budget range of titles, Xplosiv, for PC and PS2. Initially launched for PC in January 2000, Xplosiv published titles in Europe from third parties such as Sega and Microsoft. Later, in 2003 Empire launched titles for PS2. In March 2002 Empire acquired music creation software

eJay ''eJay'' is a series of musical arrangement software, and video games, primarily for Microsoft Windows. The first edition, ''Dance eJay'', was released in 1997. It supports eight tracks of audio and, as with its successors, permits the arrangemen ...

. Silverstar Holdings, a U.S. public company listed on

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...

, offered to acquired Empire Interactive in late October 2006. The deal was accepted by 90% of Empire Interactive's shareholders by late November, and so Silverstar Holdings acquired 85% of Empire Interactive's shares. The deal was valued at approximately . Admissions of further Empire Interactive shares on the

Alternative Investments Market AIM (formerly the Alternative Investment Market) is a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange that was launched on 19 June 1995 as a replacement to the previous Unlisted Securities Market (USM) that had been in operation since 1980. It allows ...

of the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...

, were expected to be cancelled, effective on 20 December. Higgins stepped down from his position in May 2008. In July, Empire Interactive reduced its staff count by 30%, with the intent to sell Razorworks. Razorworks was sold to and absorbed by

Rebellion Developments Rebellion Developments Limited is a British video game developer based in Oxford, England. Founded by Jason and Chris Kingsley in December 1992, the company is best known for its ''Sniper Elite'' series and multiple games in the ''Alien vs. P ...

a few days later. After Silverstar Holdings was delisted from NASDAQ in March 2009, Empire Interactive was placed into

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

on 1 May 2009, with KPMG Restructuring appointed as administrator. Subsequently, 49 out of 55 employees were laid off, with the remaining six staying to aiding KPMG Restructuring in the winding-down of the company. Empire Interactive's

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

was sold to U.S.-based company New World IP. Shortly thereafter, U.S. publisher

Zoo Publishing indiePub Entertainment, Inc. (formerly Zoo Entertainment, Inc.) was a publisher of video games based in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. History Zoo Games was a wholly owned subsidiary of Zoo Entertainment originally known as DFTW Merger Sub, I ...

acquired an exclusive licence for the publishing and distribution of Empire Interactive from New World IP.

Games

References

{{Authority control Companies that have entered administration in the United Kingdom Video game companies established in 1987 Video game companies disestablished in 2009 Defunct video game companies of the United Kingdom Video game development companies Video game publishers Defunct companies based in London